


Beautiful Crazy

by Hopedanglesonastring, Writerforquinn



Category: Impractical Jokers
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-18
Updated: 2019-06-04
Packaged: 2019-11-24 01:07:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 25
Words: 47,057
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18159443
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hopedanglesonastring/pseuds/Hopedanglesonastring, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Writerforquinn/pseuds/Writerforquinn
Summary: After months apart what is the status of Maren and Brian? Can the Jokers convince her to return to New York and pick up where the madness left off?Sequel to Dress. Co-written with @hopedanglesonastring





	1. Her Day Starts With A Coffee And Ends With A Wine

**Author's Note:**

> Co written with Hopedanglesonastring

It was late Sunday night and Brian was exhausted from touring all weekend. Him and the guys had just gotten back from a quick weekend tour in upstate New York. He had just gotten home and was about to start unpacking when a beer and his couch seemed a lot more inviting.

Their new tour manager, Kyle, messed up their travel arrangements and didn't order their car like he should have which caused them getting home later than they would have liked. He was getting a little fed up with this new guy and his constant mistakes. Maren would have never made these stupid mistakes. He then let out a heavy sigh as he thought about her. It had been three months since he had seen or talked to her. He thought back to when he found out she had up and left New York for good. 

Three Months Earlier: 

They were on set of After Party at a brewery on Staten Island. He was shooting the shit with Fatone and doing anything he could possibly do to keep his mind busy. The photos of Maren and the video of the two of them had been a constant weight on his shoulders for almost a week now. When he got back from Key West though he realized how much he overreacted and although still upset he wanted to talk to Maren. His calls and texts were falling on dead air so he had decided to wait and give her some space. 

They were about to start shooting when Joe walked by looking bothered. Brian wasn't the only one to notice. "Joey what's wrong?" Cha asked seeing the look of concern on her bosses' face. 

Joe looked up from his phone. "I just got off the phone with Bessy. She's real upset." 

"Everything okay?" Murr interrupted. 

"Maren's gone. She broke her lease here and picked up and moved to Florida. She's really never coming back." Joe said. He saw the look in Brian's eyes. "It's done Q." He said to his friend taking a seat. 

Present Day:

Brian didn't remember anything from that episode they shot. He was relatively quiet the whole time only speaking when it was absolutely necessary. He wanted so badly to ask Joe or the others if they had spoken to Maren but he knew he shouldn't. It had been months and they were finally starting to act normal around him again. Losing Maren was a big hit to everyone and he knew he was to blame for it. He just hoped that whatever she was doing now, she was okay but he still couldn't help but wonder if she still thought about him.   
________________________________  
Monday morning and Maren started her day like she started every day now, breathing in the ocean air with a coffee. Life here was much more carefree than it was in New York. She had gotten a job as a PR consultant and social media analyst for a small entertainment venue down here. The pay wasn't amazing but she was doing fine with what she had in savings. However the peace of mind was worth the pay cut. It also had the perks of her being able to make her own hours. When she worked for the Jokers she swore she was on call 24/7. However they did make it financially worth it. 

Whenever she thought of New York she couldn't help that her heart ached. She wondered how everyone was doing; Bessy, Joe, Sal, Murray...and as much as she didn't want to Brian. At first she was getting calls and texts from him asking to talk. She never answered a single one and eventually they stopped. Maren was certain he had moved on and their short romance wasn't even on his mind anymore.   
________________________________  
One morning Maren's phone went off with an incoming text.   
Bessy: Guess who will be in Key West this weekend!

Maren: Seriously?! For what?

Bessy: Joe's down there working, my parents have the kids so I figured this would be the perfect opportunity to sneak off and see my long lost friend.  
_____________________________  
"I don't know about this now." Bessy said to her husband unsure if he should be coming along. 

"Why not?" Joe questioned. 

"Because She specifically asked if I was coming alone. I feel bad lying to her." Bessy said. Maren seemed excited for her visit but she had asked if any of the others were coming along. Bessy knew Maren wanted to leave New York where it was and that included the four Impractical Jokers. 

"Maren hasn't returned any of my messages, so if I have be sneaky now so be it." Joe said. Him and the guys had a show in Miami tomorrow but he flew down a day early to specifically talk to Maren. Usually he would feel bad for using his wife as bait but he was desperate at this point. 

"GPS says 2nd house on the left." Bessy instructed calmly but inside her heart was pounding so fast. 

Bessy knocked on the door and Maren quickly opened it going in for a hug. However once she saw Joe she stopped dead in her tracks. "Not exactly what I pictured when you said alone, Bes." Maren said sarcastically. 

"Don't be mad at her." Joe spoke up, "Maren you haven't returned any of my messages. We've all reached out to you. I thought we deserved a little better than that." Joe said sternly. 

"I just needed a fresh start down here." Maren said with a softer tone. She knew it was rude to just completely disappear but it was something she had to do. For the first time since Maren moved here she began tearing up thinking about everything she left. 

Joe saw the tears start to build and immediately stepped up on her porch pulling her in for a hug, "Alright well this isn't what I wanted. I don't want to make you cry." He stroked her hair as she cried into his shoulder, Bessy rubbed her back softly as she let it all out. "I can leave if you want." Joe said. 

Maren pulled back and shook her head, "No stay. I've missed you just as much." She said smiling sadly and laughing at how ridiculous this whole situation was.   
_______________________________  
The trio decided on lunch and ended up at beachside cafe. They talked about the kids and Maren's new life down here a bit but finally Maren had to ask. "So how's the new tour manager holding up?" She asked smirking as she sipped her coffee. 

"You wouldn't be asking me if you didn't already know." Joe said rolling his eyes. 

Maren shrugged with a bit of a cocky smile on her lips, "I hear things." She chuckled. 

"He's very inexperienced but of course as you know we needed someone quick." Joe said giving her a look that spoke volumes. "He completely screwed up the Europe Tour. Made promises to so many people about meet and greets. The times were also messed up which left audiences waiting for close to two hours. 

"Sounds like you have to make it up to them." Maren said immediately reverting back to your manager mode without every thinking. 

"That's the plan, we just don't know how. We couldn't possibly refund all that money." Joe said giving Bessy a discreet look. They both saw Maren's mind working. 

"No I'm not talking about a refund. Just go back and do a makeup show. You guys don't do meet and greets anymore but if that's what was promised, I think you should." Maren said taking a sip from her drink. "You will have to contact ticket vendors to get the word out. Let fans know if they have proof of purchase, they can attend. Put the word out through social media as well, that's how the majority of your fans get their news now. You also have to contact the venues and figure out new dates." 

Bessy and Joe exchanged smiles. "It's certainly gonna be a lot of work." Bessy said. 

"Yeah and for Kyle who's so inexperienced it's gonna be overwhelming." Joe added. Both Gattos smiled brightly at Maren batting their eyes. 

"Forget it!" Maren laughed trying to hide a smile. "It's not happening you guys." 

"Maren we need you." Joe pleaded. "I'm not asking for you to come back forever but just help us sort out this mess. We owe it to our fans over there." 

"Absolutely not, I resigned remember." Maren argued. "Forget it Gatto!" 

After lunch Joe disappeared leaving Bessy and Maren to catch up as planned. "So..." Bessy started as they walked around downtown looking around the shops. "You seeing anyone?" She asked with a dorky smile. 

"Definitely not." Maren laughed. "I came down here to find myself not a man." 

"He isn't the same you know." Bessy said. 

"I'm not talking about him." Maren immediately said stopping Bessy from continuing. She couldn't even bring herself to say his name. 

"I know and I can't say that I blame you, I'm just saying he used to be good at pretending he was happy, he can't even do that anymore. He just seems broken." 

"Bessy!" Maren shouted causing a few people walking by to stop and stare, "We're not talking about this, I mean it." 

"You're right, I'm sorry." Bessy apologized realizing she pushed too far. 

As they walked along and entered a jewelry store with pieces made of sea glass, Maren couldn't help but be angered by Bessy's description of Brian. He's broken?! What the fuck was she?! 

After the fun day together, Bessy had to get to Miami to meet Joe. As she hugged Maren tight she whispered, "Please just consider what Joe asked. They're in a tough spot right now and could use someone who knows what they're doing to fix all this."   
________________________________  
"You played me like a fiddle Gatto." Maren said into her phone as soon as she landed at JFK airport. 

"You in New York?" Joe laughed. 

"You know I am." She said rolling her eyes as she headed towards baggage claim. 

"I truly appreciate this Maren." Joe thanked. It had been two weeks since his trip to Key West and finally a couple days ago Maren called him saying she would help organize the make up tour but then her ass was back on a plane to Florida. 

"You okay going into the office?" Joe asked not knowing how Maren would feel coming back to a place where everything fell apart. 

Maren took a deep breath, "Yeah I'll be fine. Gotta rip off the bandaid at some point. Plus it will be nice to see everyone." She had done a lot of growing the last few months, Maren Mulligan was ready to hold her head high and enter the TruTv office again. 

"Does everyone know I'm coming?" Maren asked. What she really wanted to ask was did Brian know she was coming but couldn't bring herself to actually say it. 

Joe assured her everyone did. He had spoken to Sal and Murray personally but it was decided that Sal would break the news to Q. Unfortunately unknown to Joe, Sal hadn't actually had the conversation just yet. Anytime Maren's name came up, Q's mood became so much worse. It was something Sal just kept putting off.   
______________________________  
"Hey man" Brian greeted when he saw Sal enter his office. 

Sal knew Maren was due any minute, he had to tell Q and the time was now. "Sup Bud." 

"What's this meeting on our calendar today?" Brian asked. 

"Yeah that's what I need to talk to you about." Sal mumbled looking kind of nervous. "It's to discuss that make up tour we talked about." 

"We need a meeting for that?" Brian questioned looking up at his friend, he could tell something was up. "What aren't you telling me Sal?" 

"It's gonna be a huge task to get everything done so quickly so we kinda brought in someone to help Kyle." Sal said but was doing his best to avoid eye contact. 

"I don't know why we are wasting our time with this kid, I say we fire him. Wait did you say we are bringing someone in?" Brian asked then put two and two together. Just by the way Sal was acting he knew right away. "You found her?" He asked eyes widened in disbelief. 

Sal nodded, "She's on her way now." Sal looked at his friend, this new broken version of Brian Quinn was killing Sal. "You gonna be okay?" He asked. 

"Just give me a little bit. I'll be down." Brian said looking down at his hands. 

"We can't do this if you two aren't on the same page. You need to face this now." Sal said. 

"I said I'd be down Sal!" Brian snapped.   
________________________________  
Maren took a deep breath as she stood outside the front door of the One Time Warner Center. "Hold your head high Maren, you got this." She whispered to herself. "Deep breaths, you can do this." She coached herself as she walked through the revolving door. 

"Maren Mulligan for Joe Gatto." She said to the front desk receptionist that she was so grateful she didn't know." 

The receptionist checked the guest list and smiled as she handed Maren a visitor's pass. "Take the elevators to the 9th floor. First conference room on the right." She instructed. 

Maren smiled at what Joe had done. The Impractical Jokers office wasn't on the 9th floor. Joe knew this was gonna be a lot for Maren so he arraigned for a room on another floor. He knew her so well. 

As she waited for her former bosses to arrive Maren continued to concentrate on her breathing. She hadn't had a panic attack in a while and wasn't starting now. Maren got her laptop out and brought up all her contacts for ticket sellers and venues in Europe so she was ready. 

Maren looked up when she heard the door open. She sighed in relief when Brian didn't walk in the door. Instead she got up and hugged Murray tightly. "God have I missed you." She said against his ear. 

"You look fantastic Mar!" Murray complimented squeezing her back. 

Joe walked in as well followed by a man that Maren didn't recognize but assumed was Kyle, the new tour manager. He stood off to the side looking Maren up and down seeming very unsure about this whole situation. 

Maren's heart dropped when the door opened again but calmed immediately when she saw it was Sal standing alone. "There's my guy." Maren smiled giving Sal a great big hug. 

"What's up baby?" Sal said kissing her cheek. 

"I missed you Sally." She chocked out. 

"Missed you too!" Sal replied. 

As Joe started the introduction between Maren and Kyle, Murray pulled Sal aside. "Where's Q? Thought he was coming down with you?" Murray whispered. 

"He needed a minute. I just told him this morning that Maren was back. He said he needed to collect himself before he came down." Sal answered back in a whisper. 

"I still don't know why you waited so long to tell him." Murray argued. 

"If you think it was so easy, you should have done it instead of pinning it off on me." Sal said rolling his eyes, "He'll be down, relax." 

"Alright so as you know Kyle Europe wasn't a success like we had hoped. That's why Maren is back to help." Joe was explaining. "Usually our Europe tours are planned out months in advance but we have time in our schedule to go back in three weeks. This means we gotta move quickly. There's a lot to do. Maren has more experience and is good at working under pressure for us so follow her lead and let her do what needs to be done. Hopefully you can learn a lot from her." 

"Joe I apologized for my mistakes but with all due respect I don't need a babysitter." Kyle defended in a pretty snarky attitude. 

"Can I ask how old are you?" Maren asked with her arms crossed. This kid wasn't ready to be a tour manager for such a popular and busy comedy troupe. 

"I'm 26 but what does my age have to do with anything?" Kyle snapped at her. 

"Just curious." Maren answered, "And all due respect it seems like you do need a babysitter or else I wouldn't be back." 

"I don't need your help." Kyle said, "Guys I can get this tour scheduled myself, no need to bring in a ghost of the past." 

"Listen Kyle Maren knows what she's doing..." Joe enforced but was interrupted. 

"I disagree it's because of your fuck ups that this ghost had to come back!" Maren snapped, "I worked my ass off for these guys and I'm not gonna let some little puke ruin what they have built." 

Kyle let out a sarcastic laugh, "Word going around is you certainly worked your ass for something but I don't think it was for the tour." He rolled his eyes. 

"Excuse me?!" Maren shouted, "Who the fuck do you think you're talking to like that?!" 

"It's not my mistake that is ruining their reputation, it's the slutty ex- tour manager!" Kyle yelled. 

"Get the fuck out!" A loud voice boomed from the doorway. Brian entered the room and walked right up to Kyle standing nose to nose with the younger man. "You need to learn some fucking respect! Get your shit and get out NOW!" 

"You can't fire me without the consent from the other guys." Kyle argued turning to the other jokers. 

The three others looked at each other and then Joe spoke for the rest of them, "Goodbye Kyle. You're last check will be in the mail today." 

Kyle was in shock but he gathered his things quickly and walked towards the exit. Turning around he looked eyes with Maren, "Try to keep your clothes on this time, huh?" 

"One more word to her and I will put your fucking head through the wall!" Brian spat. 

"Bye Kyle." Maren smiled with a wave as she watched him slink out with his tail between his legs. 

Brian's eyes were burning with rage as he watched Kyle walk down the corridor towards the elevators. As soon as he turned back around and looked at Maren, his look soften. "Hi." He said in a quiet voice. 

"Hi." She replied looking up into his dark brown eyes for the first time in months.


	2. Takes Forever To Get Ready So She’s Never On Time For Anything

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Co written with Hopedanglesonastring

That was it. All she needed was to hear his voice, see him one more time and all bets were off.

They couldn’t keep their hands off each other, quickly finding a closet that they could sneak off too.

“I missed you so much,” Brian said in between kissing her deeply as if she was the air he breathed. His hands ran up and down her body, unbuttoning and unzipping everything she was wearing.

Maren moaned deeply. Brian was her drug and she was sober for over 3 months at this point. It was time to get her fix. She slowly slipped her panties down and raised her ass higher in the air as she bent over slowly.  
“Fuck me Brian..” she begged breathlessly..

 

“Maren, Maren,” Joe shouted a little louder the second time waving his hand to get her attention. She shook her head slightly and focused her eyes back on the four jokers sitting across from her.

“Sorry.. yes I don’t think that would be a problem. If you want to just keep the Meet n Greets to the first shows of the evening, that should make up for everyone,” she smiled up at the guys while she typed a few notes on her tablet. Underneath the conference room table, Maren’s knee kept shaking. It was one thing to think about Brian Quinn. It was another to actual be in his presence, and as much as she thought she was prepared, those big brown eyes still made her weak. Hearing him defend her against Kyle didn’t help matters.

Everyone was quiet for a moment looking over some paperwork before Murr spoke up. “It’s really great to have you back Maren. We missed you so much. What have you been up to the last 3 months? You look amazing?” he asked cheerfully and oblivious to the fact that no one really wanted to bring up the past.

 

Sal looked at him like he was stupid, and Joe nudged him under the table. Maren glanced over at Brian who was staring at her intently. She knew she would have to address the elephant in the room, so she took a deep breath and began.

“Listen guys. I’m sorry I left the way I did. But it was all too much. I felt I had let you down and your fans down, and didn’t want to be a hinderance. Look at what Kyle said, I’m sure you’ve gotten dozens of comments like that over the last few months. I will never be able to thank you guys for what you’ve given me,. I’m happy to be back to help you through these make-up shows. I’ll do whatever I can to help train a new tour manager also.”

Murr’s brow furrowed in confusion. He slightly shaked his head, “Well we don’t have Kyle anymore so, why don’t you think about staying on permanently. It’s not the same without you.” 

Maren smiled sweetly at him and without hesitation responded, “Sorry Murr, my life is back in Florida now.”

Brian had taken his eyes of Maren only to take in the other guys faces during her apology, but his face shot back over to her immediately when she said Her Life. The achy sadness that went away when he saw her face for the first time in over 100 days, crept back in. Her life wasn’t in New York anymore, and he was no longer a part of it. “So, is that all? I have somewhere I’ve got to get too,” Brian said as he stood and pointed towards the door. 

The other guy looked at him and as Maren began to speak, their eyes darted back towards her, “We’re all done. I’ll get you guys itineraries as soon as I can.” She smiled towards Brian and then averted her eyes towards the other guys.

Brian awkwardly made his way to the door, half wishing he could scoop her up in a passionate embrace, half realizing this tour was going to be hell for him. “Great. Maren, it’s nice to see you. Guys, I’ll be back soon.” 

Yet again, all eyes were on her as Brian walked out the door. Quickly she changed the subject, “All right boys, let’s do this!” she said walking around to where each of the guys were now standing.

Joe hugged her and kissed the side of her cheek, “You never need to apologize to us, we love you and we always have your back” he said letting go of her. “Let me know what you need from us. Anything, ok?” Joe said as he snapped and tapped his fists together. 

As Joe and Murr exited the conference room, Maren noticed Sal leaning against the table, smiling at her. “I missed you Mulls, you look fantastic.” There was a few moments of silence, and Maren knew he wasn’t finished, “Are you happy?” He asked sincerely in that innocent Sal way he had about him.

Maren looked at him and smiled gently, “A lot has happened Sal. I’m healing, put it that way.” She loaded her bag with her tablet and some papers, nervous Sal was going to bring up Brian. She peered up at him quickly. She could always tell when Sal was stuck between a rock and a hard place. It was always written all over his face. This time was no different, she saw him searching for the right words to say.

Grabbing her bag she patted him reassuringly on the chest as she went to walk out of the conference room, “It’s ok Sally, we’re adults. We’ll both be ok.”

Sal slightly tiled his head to the side and winced, not quite convinced but decided to change the subject, “Got plans tonight? Big Apple needs to realize what its missed while you were gone !” 

Maren laughed, “‘Maybe, text me later!”  
____________________________________________

“I’ll take a beer please,” Brian ordered at the bar about four blocks away. He’d become somewhat a regular after stumbling upon it by accident one day. With his hat pulled down low, he scanned the crowd looking for the face he had made himself very familiar with the last few weeks. It only appeared to be a once every other Thursday thing, but once Brian noticed the pattern, he was intrigued.

It started out as a fluke. The show was shooting a few blocks away, and during one break Brian and one of the showrunners grabbed a beer. Not more than five minutes passed before he noticed him. 

Jason wasn’t a hang at the bar kind of guy. But he would jump off a bridge if his friends told him too. That first time Brian noticed him, he had to be talked down by Dan, one of the crew. The scandal was still fresh in everyone’s minds, and him going to jail for assaulting someone wouldn’t have gone over well. Still, even with the absolute hatred he had for Jason, he showed up two more times after that to see what his deal was. Everytime Brian saw Jason the same thought would run through his mind, “What the hell did you see in this guy, Maren?” The only thing these two men had in common was Maren. Everything from their clothes, to what they ordered at the bar, was polar opposite. A million questions always ran through his mind, “How could you do that to her? Who do you think you are? Didn’t you realize what you had? You’re the reason Maren is gone!” It would be an easy out for Brian, to want to blame Jason. If he never leaked the pictures, she’d still be here. It was bullshit though and he was fooling no one. Brian carried that burden around for not only him but for the rest of the jokers who had to suffer from her absence also.

Brian drank his beer and his phone buzzed in his hand. Not seeing Jason anyway, he looked down at his phone.

“You good, you left pretty fast?” Sal texted.

Brian went to respond when out of the corner of his eye he spotted him. Glancing at his watch, he noticed he was 10 minutes late. Brian had noticed he was always punctual the last few times. He also noticed he always met with the same man. However today, it seemed that man was running late as well, until the door opened and in he walked. Brian had tried unsuccessfully to snap a few pictures and try to overhear what was being said, but got no where. Often times, Brian wondered if he was just going crazy, and maybe they were legitimately just friends. While he may not wear the fancy clothes Jason does, or be as good looking as him, he was a lot smarter than Jason, because this guy was definitely up to something.

“I’m fine, Sal. Heading home.” Q typed back as he walked out of the bar.

_____________________________________________

Kelsey had been in constant contact with Maren over the last 3 months, even visiting after she was all settled in. Make no mistake though, Kelsey was just as caught off guard as everyone else was when Maren told her about moving, however she couldn’t doubt that her friend seemed more relaxed this time around in New York. 

Since this was only a temporary visit, Kelsey insisted she stay with her, which Maren happily agreed to. She had definitely missed Kelsey and was relieved and grateful that even after everything that they’ve just gone through, it made them grow closer.

Plopped done on the couch, Maren sighed and barely had one heel off before Kelsey handed her a glass of white wines and began the inquisition, “ Spill it. I want to know every little detail of what happened when you and Brian laid eyes on each other.” Kelsey had mixed feelings about everything that went down between Maren and Brian, however everyone knew these two belonged together and Kelsey was rooting for it to happen just like everyone else. 

Maren finished removing her heels and took a sip of her wine, “Man i haven’t worn heels in 3 months. I don’t even think there’s a store on the Island they SELLS heels.” Maren cocked her eyebrow and laughed realizing that was most likely true. 

Kelsey rolled her eyes, “ Yeah yeah Little Mermaid, get to the good shit,” she said patting her knee.

“He fired Kyle!” Maren said scrunching her nose up. 

“NO!!! Shit!,” Kelsey exclaimed loudly. Clearly PR Kelsey was not in the building currently.

Maren squinted her face up and continued, “Kyle made a comment about the pictures and Brian told him to get the fuck out,” Maren squeaked out knowing Kelsey was gonna flip her shit in excitement.

“Always been my favorite. Brian has ALWAYS been my favorite. I mean besides the elevator part, but yeah. GO BRIAN! Also don’t tell any of the others he’s my fave,” Kelsey whispered the last part and then mockingly threw her first in the air.

Maren shook her head in disbelief, “Oh Kelsey” and groaned. “Way to be on my side,” Maren swung a couch pillow towards her.

“You can’t sit there and tell me you weren’t turned on hearing him defend your honor.” Kelsey always knew when to call her bluff.

Maren sighed knowing she was going to burst her friends bubble, “I absolutely was. But it’s over Kelsey. It just is.” She shrugged and stood up. “Did Sal call you about tonight? You’re coming with right?” Maren said walking towards Kelsey’s guest bedroom.

Kelsey sipped her wine and nodded, “Yep and you better have packed something sexy in that luggage of yours


	3. She Gets That Come Get Me Look In Her Eyes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Co written with Hopedanglesonastring

"Cheers to my best friend being back!" Kelsey smiled raising her wine glass to cheers Sal and Maren. They were at a bar uptown that Sal's musician friend was playing at. He was a good friend of the Jokers and Maren and Kelsey had met him a number of times so the girls were down to have a night out with Sal. 

"Temporarily back." Maren reminded with a laugh. 

"We've really missed you Mar. I know we keep saying it but it's true." Sal smiled pulling her in for a side hug. 

No one wanted to address the big elephant in the room, that elephant being Brian. Kelsey got the hint that Maren didn't wanna talk about him back at her apartment and Sal witnessed the awkward exchange earlier. 

Sal's phone vibrated in his pocket as the girls chatted so he looked down to read his text quickly. 

Q:Look up. 

Up above the main floor was a VIP area on the 2nd floor. Brian watched as Sal looked around but still hadn't spotted him. 

Sal felt his phone vibrate again in his hand. 

Q: All the way to the right. 

Sal locked eyes with his best friend and shook his head in disbelief . Out of all the places to come to in New  York. "Ladies I'm gonna hit the bathroom, I'll be right back." 

"Another round if the waitress comes back?" Maren asked as Sal stood up. 

"Yeah, I'm down." Sal answered then headed out of sight. 

Q stood at the top of the stairs shaking his head as Sal made his way up to him. "Ya know for such a big city, New York is awfully small." He joked. 

"You here to see Jonah play too?" Sal asked referring to their friend. 

"Yeah...thanks for the invite by the way." Brian said giving his friend a playful punch. 

Sal rolled his eyes, "Oh yeah..hey Maren you know the guy you left New York to get away from...mind if he joins us tonight?" He said mockingly. 

"Hey look, I get it." Brian defended putting his hands in the air. "She was your friend too, I understand. I'll just stay up here, she doesn't even have to know I'm here." 

Sal hated this. Things would be so much easier and better for everyone if this whole mess never happened but they had Maren back to fix everything. He had to be grateful for that. Sal looked over and waved to some of Q's firemen buddies he was out with tonight. "I'm gonna get back down there. See you in the morning bud." Sal said patting Brian on the arm. 

"Sally?!" Brian called out. "Make sure she gets home okay." 

"Of course." Sal smiled sadly then started down the stairs. "And if she's drinking martinis tonight make sure she has plenty of water. She gets really buzzed half way through her second." 

"I got it Q." Sal insisted. 

"Oh and Sal?!" Brian called out quickly. 

"Yeah?!" Sal answered sighing heavily. 

"If she talks to any dudes tonight...just don't tell me about it." Brian said with a sadness in his eyes. 

Sal didn't say anything he just gave his friend a nod and headed back to his table.   
_______________________________  
The night was really fun. Maren and Sal were telling Kelsey story after story of being on tour. Like the time the fire alarm went off in a hotel in Birmingham and Murray ran outside in just a towel or when the bus broke down outside of Philly and they had to entertain themselves with a horrible lip sync battle that Sal and Maren won with their rendition of Salt n Pepa's Let's Talk About Sex. Kelsey was in tears from laughing. 

Up above Brian was trying his hardest not to look down and watch Maren but it was easier said than done. When he first spotted them he just stopped and stared at the most beautiful woman he knew he would ever set his eyes on. Her skin was nicely tanned from the constant Florida sun and she had a new hair style, opting for something a little shorter with bangs. However in addition to all of that, he marveled over how happy and carefree she looked. It reminded him of their trip together and how beautiful she looked every single morning. Or the way the moonlight hit her skin when they were curled up on the beach together watched the waves late into the night. 

"You Alright Quinn?" Mike, a former firemen brother of his, said noticing his friend wasn't right. 

"She looks so goddamn happy." He sighed as he leaned against the railing. "At one point I thought I was gonna be the one to make her happy." 

Mike was Brian's closest friend at the fire department. They attended the academy together and were placed at the Richmond Ave station after graduating. He liked talking to Mike because he was a friend that would always give it to him straight and he wasn't business partners with Mike like he was with the Jokers. Mike wasn't friends with Q he was friends with Quinn. "Give it time man. Things may surprise you." 

Brian shook his head, "Nah man trust me, I fucked this one up way past repair." Brian looked down over the crowd hoping the band would start soon when someone caught his eye. "You've gotta be shitting me." He said immediately backing away and booking for the stairs. 

"Quinn! Quinn! Where you going?!" Mike yelled after him. 

Downstairs Sal, Maren, and Kelsey were ordering some appetizers when a voice that Maren prayed she would never hear another day in her life made its presence. "Saaaal!" Hailee squealed. All three sets of eyes instantly rolled as Hailee reached the table. "Shame on you!" She scolded, "You come to my favorite bar and don't even send me a text. You know I'm always here." She said leaning down to kiss his cheek. 

"I actually didn't know that Hailee." Sal sighed. "Nor do I have your number." 

Hailee then did a double take when she noticed who was Sal's company. "Oh my god?! Maren?!" Hailee exclaimed in a voice that should be used to break glass. 

"Hello Hailee." Maren mumbled. She refused to make eye contact with Kelsey because she knew her friend was likely making a face that would probably cause Maren to burst out laughing. 

"I heard you ran away to Florida after Q dumped you." Hailee said. 

"Hailee." Sal jumped in not liking where this conversation was headed. 

"Not exactly how it went down." Maren responded. 

"Oh I think that's exactly how it went down." Hailee smiled sweetly. "But don't feel bad, guys like Q don't stick around. Even if the world didn't see you having sex with multiple men, he would have found another excuse to leave. It's just who he is." 

"And you know all about how Q is right?" Maren smiled shaking her head at the low blow Hailee was trying to throw. She felt Kelsey squeeze her arm as a way of telling Maren that Hailee just wasn't worth her time. 

"Q and I have an understanding." Hailee responded. 

Maren let out a laugh she couldn't hold in any longer. "No you don't. He calls, you come running. That's the only understanding you have." Hailee went to open her mouth but Maren quickly cut her off, "Do you have any idea how many times I would be sitting near him on tour and see the look of annoyance on his face whenever you would call." 

Kelsey and Sal stared at one another in shock. The old Maren would never talk like this. She would simply play nice with anyone she encountered, Hailee included. "New flash sweetheart, you are simply something for him to stick his dick into. So don't sit here and pretend that you have him wrapped around your little finger because since day one you've just been something to help keep him warm when he's lonely at night." 

"Pretty ironic coming from someone who he screwed in an elevator." Hailee spat now dropping the sweet act due to having egg all over her face. 

Sal and Kelsey were too caught up in this exchange they didn't notice someone else joining them. It was too loud for Brian to hear what was being said but from the look on both women's faces he couldn't imagine they were swapping recipes. He quickly pushed his way through the crowd of people until he made it to the table. 

"Hailee I've accepted my mistakes, so you trying to throw them in my face isn't gonna get under my skin." Maren said calmly. 

"You could have never held onto him, you know that right?" Hailee said in a cocky tone. 

"And I really don't care anymore. If you want to continue lying to yourself and pretend that you actually mean something to him that's your business because as far as I'm concerned Brian Quinn and I are long over." Maren ended taking her seat again. She was done wasting anymore of her breath on this girl. 

As Hailee turned around she bumped right into Brian's chest. "Q! Hey!" She smiled. "I called you earlier, thought we could have met up" 

He may not have heard the entire conversation but the last part he could loud and clear. Him and Maren were long over. Even though he already assumed that after months of being ignored, finally hearing it from her lips felt like a punch in the stomach. Maren locked eyes with him. Her tough exterior began to fall when she saw the look in his eyes. 

"Goodbye Hailee." Brian said coldly not even looking at her, he couldn't move his eyes from Maren's. 

"Q? What is wrong with you?" Hailee asked insulted by being brushed off like a piece of annoying lint on your shirt. 

"Just please go." Brian said this time it coming out as a plea when he finally looked at her. "We let this go on for far too long." 

"You're even more pathetic than I thought!" Hailee shouted stomping her feet like a toddler as she walked away. 

Kelsey and Sal looked on as Maren and Brian continued looking at one another. The duo knew their best friends were hurting. "Maren?" He finally said placing his hands on the table.   
Just hearing her name coming from his lips was torture. Those soft lips that kissed her so many times over their short lived relationship. She looked into his eyes, the same eyes that stared at her so intensely when they would make love. Maren looked down at his hands and couldn't help but think of all the thinks those strong yet gentle hands had done to her body. 

"I think it's time we talked about everything." Brian said.


	4. Well It Kinda Scares The Way That She Drives Me Wild

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Co written with Hopedanglesonastring

“Now isn’t a good time, I’m with some friends,” Maren stumbled over her words as she glanced over to Sal and Kelsey. Quickly she took a huge sip of her drink, hoping it would miraculously be the cure she would need to get through this turn of events. 

Sal and Kelsey quickly began to gather themselves and get up from the table. “Actually.. it’s gettin lat.. Kel didn’t, didnt you say we had a meeting early? I thought that.. ” Sals nervous voice became high pitched as he scratched at his neck.

Kelsey was quick to interject, “Yes!” she said pointing at Sal as she grabbed her clutch off the table. “Right you are!” Kelsey and Sal stood there awkwardly as they all looked at one another.

“Right, ok.. byeee,” Sal said as he quickly chugged the rest of his drink and made a beeline towards the door, Kelsey in tow.

“Seems like your company had to go,” Brian watched as their friends disappeared, slightly amused. 

Maren let out a silent laugh while looking towards the ceiling. This was not how she envisioned her first night back in the city going. “Alright. Sure. I’ll meet you out front in 5 minutes.” Maren got up from the table and headed towards the restaurant.

Brian headed quickly back up the stairs towards Mike. “I’m gonna head out. I covered the tab. You guys enjoy your night. I’ll talk to you soon.” Brian said patting Mike on the arm.

“Everything alright Quinn, you bolted pretty fast before,” Mike asked leaning in closer to Brian. 

Brian nodded, “Yeah buddy, just gotta take care of a few things. Text you later.”

Maren took a seat in the middle stall of the restroom and fumbled with her cell phone, a bundle of nerves and anger thanks to Kelsey and Sal leaving her to deal with this.

“BOTH OF YOU ARE IN TROUBLE” she typed quickly and then hit send to both Kelsey and Sal.

Kelsey: Mar just talk to him.

“DID YOU BOTH KNOW HE WAS GOING TO BE HERE? DID YOU SET ME UP?” Maren wasn’t exactly mad, but she didn’t want them to know that. 

Sal: “I SWEAR I had NO idea he was gonna be there. I wouldn’t do that to you I SWEAR.”

Maren put her phone away. “Just talk to him Maren.” She said under her breath. Glancing in the mirror, she fixed her hair and took afew deep breathes before heading outside.  
_____________________________________________  
2 years ago, second leg of the tour 

“So wait, he wasn’t at the interview this morning? So it was just the three of you?” Maren was confused when Murr mentioned not hearing from Brian all day when she met with him to see how the Interview this morning went. Maren had confirmed with Q several times the day before, as she had noticed that he wasn’t as dialed in as the other guys were when it came to press junkets and television interviews.

As tour manager, part of Maren’s job was promoting the shows, and that would always consist of an in market, local television station or radio interview usually with one or all of the guys. Maren was careful not to stretch the guys too thin of course, and no one ever complained about doing it. No one except Brian Quinn of course.

“Nope it was just the three of us? None of us have heard from him actually,” Murr said as he scrolled through his phone.

“Hmm. Thanks Murr. I’ll see you at sound check.” Maren said as she made her way towards the bank of elevators in the lobby. Pressing the button for Brian’s floor she became increasingly frustrated at his diva like attitude. While she realized this job would have its moments, dealing with a grown mans attitude and antics hadn’t entered her mind and it seemed to be happening more and more often.

Once outside his hotel room door, she had to knock several times before a shirtless Q finally opened the door. The bright light coming from the hallway hurt his eyes. “I’m sorry, are you not feeling well? You weren’t at the intervjew this morning and no ones heard from you,” Maren felt bad instantly realizing she may have misread the situation and he was actually sick.

That is until a talk blonde girl peeked around his shoulder, “Hiyyeee” she squealed.

Maren looked back up to Brian slightly embarrassed at first, then with anger in her eyes. This guy blew off work to fuck a fan. Maren thought to herself.

“Hailee, gimme a minute darlin, I’ll be right back,” he said to the tall blonde who was nibbling on his shoulder, not caring that there was a a stranger watching her. Once she was gone, he turned to Maren, “Sorry bout her, no I’m fine..just.. busy..” he said motioning with his head back towards his bed.

Maren shook her head in disbelief, “Brian you had a work commitment this morning, that you blew off .. for sex?” This wasn’t what she signed up for. 

“Maren sweetheart, I think you work for me, right? So I think I can decide what I choose to blow off.. and that definitely wasn’t Hailee,” he said with the cockiest sly grin on his face.

Maren rolled her eyes, “Actually I work for The Tenderloins, which you’re a member of. And I was hired to do a job, which I’m trying to do, except you are making it pretty difficult for me.”

“Maren, stay in your lane. I’ll see you at soundcheck,” he said closing the hotel room door as Hailee whined his name.

Maren was beyond pissed, “Asshole” she said to the hotel room door.

_____________________________________________

“So, where to?” Maren tried her very best to make sure her smile didn’t come across as fake. As much as she knew the two of them eventually needed to discuss things, it wasn’t something she was looking forward too. She lost days, weeks and months trying to bury the thoughts of this man, only now they were being exhumed.

With his hands in his pockets, Brian shrugged his shoulders up and turned to his left. “I guess let’s just take a walk ..” his voice trailed off as he starting walking. This wasn’t exactly how he saw his night going either. When he woke up this morning, this woman was 3,000 miles away. He was still trying to come to terms with everything that’s happened in the last 8 hours, nevermind being alone with her and talking. 

They walked about a block in total silence before Brian tried to break the ice. “Your hair looks nice,” he said nervously realizing how incredibly lame that came off sounding.

Maren replied quickly, “Thanks, I see your growing your beard out.” 

Brian’s immediately stroked at his beard, “Yeah, yeah.. trying something new,” he shrugged it off as he stopped walking.

Maren hadn’t heard his response. Her eyes grew big and a genuine huge smile spread across her face as they stood in front of the famous Serendipity 3. “A fortunate accident,” she whispered quietly. She looked over at him, narrowing her eyes, pointing towards the window of the famed New York restaurant, “Wait, did you...?” she trailed off.

Brian’s shoulders were getting quite the workout with all the shrugging he was doing, “I didn’t realize until we started walking that it was nearby. I remembered it was one of your favorite movies.”

Maren shook her head slightly in astonishment. “You rememeber a comment I made two years ago while I was watching this on the tour bus?” 

Brian blushed as he scratched the back of his neck. “I do.” He said silently.

Maren’s heart warmed instantly, as she looked at him in amazement. How did he remember that? Maybe he really does love me? She thought to herself before shaking off that thought as quickly as she had it. Looking over at the restaurant and then back over to him, a wave of anxiety began to creep up. Serendipity was a popular tourist spot and the last thing Maren needed was being photographed with Brian.

Brian noticed the worried expression, “What’s wrong? We don’t have to go here we can talk somewhere else?” Brian became concerned with her sudden change of mood and moved in closer to her.

“I appreciate the thought Brian, I really do, I just don’t think it would be good if a picture of us leaked to the media right now.” Maren couldn’t bring herself to look in Brian’s direction when she said that, but ever since she touched down this morning in New York, it was something she now had to be concerned with. It was that first night they were out together that was the beginning of the end. One quick picture a waitress snapped and now it was always something Maren would be have to be concerned with. Business is what brought her back and she didn’t want to ruin or impede on the guys reputation anymore than she already had. 

Brian nodded hoping he was hiding his disappointment well, and gently placed his hand on her back leading her across the street, “Yeah of course, let’s just go across the street to the park.”

Maren smiled as they made their way across the street, thankful he understood. Once they were in the park they both sat awkwardly next to one another on a bench. It was a far cry from when the two of them couldn’t keep their hands off each other. Brian was leaned over with his elbows placed on his knees. 

“I made a mistake Maren,” he finally said after the silence between them became so thick, neither remembered how to breath.

Maren looked straight ahead, letting the words reverberate in her ears for a few seconds. “So did that 22 yr old girl. That was enough for you.” 

Still leaned over, Brian let out a slow long sigh and closed his eyes. The heart most people didn’t think Brian Quinn had, fractured and in this moment, he realized Maren’s had too. He had absolutely no idea what to say. After a few moments he finally formulated the words, “I’m sorry.”

“Me too,” Maren said somberly as she rose up from the bench and turned to him. “It’s just a few weeks, let’s just get through this tour cordially please for the sake of the rest of the guys and The Network, ok?”

Brian still hadn’t looked up. Tears welled in his eyes as the realization hit him hard. The Maren standing in front of him right now was no longer the happy Maren he saw earlier at the bar and he was the reason for that. “Maren.. it’s, I .. just please listen..” he said wringing his hands together, still looking down.

“What? What Brian?! WHAT do you want me to say?” Marens voice was raised along with her arms, twirling around slightly. “WHAT?! What do you want to hear me say? What? Did you think those two words would make it all better?! What do you want me to say? That I forgive you? That we can just go back to the way it was? ?!” Maren had tried to remain calm and in control of the situation, but resistance was futile. 

Brian finally looked up and sprung to his feet, “Dammit Maren, I fucked up, ok? I’m sorry. I was wrong. Every day, every day since I walked out of your apartment I have thought of a million different ways I should have handled it. I fucked up and I live with that every second.” There was a mixture of sorrow, anger, fear and regret in his delivery. Desperation even, as it became more apparent that the first woman he had loved in over 15 years was done.

Maren looked up towards the sky and shook her head, tears beginning to stream down her face, “I can’t do this,” she said with tears welling in her eyes. “Dammit wait.. No tears right? Wouldn’t want you to fall for the tears ,” she said condescendingly reminding him just what he said to her the last day they saw one another.

“Jesus Maren ...I was angry!” he screamed kicking at a rock while throwing his arms up in the air. It was a good thing that it was pretty late on a Thursday night and no one was around or they’d be pretty entertained by the dance the two of them were doing.

“And I was devastated, DEVASTATED, but all you thought of, was yourself. You never stopped to once think about the person you supposedly love. How I was just betrayed by a man I once loved, how it felt to realize everyone you’ve ever met, done business with, crazy fans, you name it, that they all could look at me naked, having sex anytime they want. How violating that is. The names people would call me, how every time I meet someone new or even a stranger who makes eye contact on the street, I now wonder if they have seen them also. How I’d have to explain it to my grandkids one day. How for as long as I live, this will haunt me.”   
She tapped on her chest several times in between making sure her nose wasn’t running. All bets were off at this point. Maren became unraveled as all the feelings bubbled to the surface. She wasn’t done.   
“Instead, you worried about what your friends would think, your family would think. You worried about what people would think of YOU. You worried about everyone, but me. That’s not love. That’s exactly what I was afraid would happen. That was you breaking my heart.” Breathless and over it, Maren wiped the tears off her face gently and looked at Brian. “Lets just please get through this tour, that’s all I’m asking.” She turned her back to Brian and began to walk away.

“Wait.. Maren,” he pleaded desperately as he quickly closed the growing gap between them. Turning around, Maren’s face was mere inches from the one man on the entire planet who completely possessed her mind, body and soul. 

Without hesitation, Brian cupped the face of the woman he loves in his hands, and searched her eyes for the love he knew was still there. He found it once his lips connected with hers, and she kissed back


	5. When She Drives Me Wild

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Co-written with hopedanglesonastring

Maren moaned into the kiss; she didn't want to but it was just out of her control. As Brian wrapped his arms around her waist to pull her as close as he possibly could she reached up her hands and touched his much fuller beard than she was used to. However she was loving every second of touching him again. 

"Oh Maren." He said against her lips and then quickly attacked them again. "God I fucking missed you." He muttered into her mouth. 

Kissing this man felt like the most natural and right thing in the world. Being in his arms again and feeling his body pressed against hers was all she needed. As they kissed every single emotion she tried to block out came rushing back to her. During their heated exchange his Yankees hat fell off his head but he didn't seem to notice nor care. 

For those few moments Brian had thought he got her back. He couldn't believe it. Pulling back slightly he cupped her face again, like he knew she loved and stared into her eyes. "Baby we're gonna make this work." He whispered as he kissed her forehead gently. 

Once those words left his mouth, Maren came back down to reality. She quit her job, moved away from New York, and started completely over. The one thing she kept repeating to herself not to do had happened and she had to get away. Maren quickly stepped back and out of his embrace. 

"Maren?" He said confusingly trying to step closer to her but it was no use; every step forward he took she would just take another back. 

"No." She said in a sad whisper. "I can't do this again. We have to be done Brian." 

"You still love me Maren, I felt it in the way you just kissed me." He insisted. 

"Of course I do. That love just doesn't go away so easily." She agreed. "But I have to figure out how to not love you anymore." There was nothing left to say. She took one final look at him and decided this park was where they had to say goodbye to Brian and Maren, the couple.   
________________________________  
For two whole days that night replayed in Brian's head over and over again. The heartbreak he saw on her face that night was something he knew he could never repair. Their only option at this point was to salvage this tour and go their separate ways for good. 

Tonight Brian had a Tell Em Steve Dave recoding at The Stash. Usually he was excited about this but today all he wanted to do was go home and hide from the world. However he had a commitment to his friends so made the drive to Jersey. 

It took all of five seconds for Walt and Bryan to realize something was wrong with their friend. He hadn't returned any of Bryan's text messages the past couple days which was very out of character. Usually they liked to joke around and hang before turning on the mics but tonight Q headed straight to the back and sat at the poker table without a word. He was good at putting on an act for the mics so that's what he intended to do. 

Walt and Bryan took one look at each other and immediately followed to the back. "What's up bud?" Walt asked first. 

"I talked to Maren. She's back in New York." Q sighed. "We kissed." 

"This is good right?" Walt asked. 

"No, no it's not." He answered then proceeded to explain everything. After finishing telling his friends about the past 48 hours Brian realized exactly what he had to do.

Soon after Johnson started the podcast with how he always does, "Hello and welcome to this week's edition of Tell Em Steve Dave. I have Walt." 

"Hello." Walt greeted.

"And good ol BQ." Johnson added. 

Johnson has a list of topics he wanted to cover over the next hour and a half and just when he was about to begin, Q interrupted. "If you both don't mind I have one thing I need to address on air quickly. 

Walt and Bryan exchanged looks but knew their friend had something to get off his chest. 

Before speaking he uncomfortably laughed at how ridiculous this was considering he wasn't even sure if Maren still listened. He knew she had over the years but probably didn't anymore. "I usually don't talk about my personal life on here or anywhere for that matter. I like to keep my relationships and private life just that...private. However things have happened over the past few months that I need to address." 

He took a deep breath before continuing. "I hurt someone very important to me. Someone that took a chance on me and I let her down. I'm sure many listeners are aware I started a relationship with The Tenderloins tour manager. Shortly after things from her past surfaced and I reacted like an asshole. I should have been there for her but instead said hurtful things and let my emotions get the better of me. I'm not gonna go into detail on what those things were but I just want to put a request out to all the Ants and IJ fans. We all make mistakes and unfortunately she was no exception but please I don't want to hear any bad things spoken about her. Anyone that knows me knows I hate the word 'fan' but I do pride myself on having great ones. So please everyone be respectful and understanding to a woman I very much care about. And to that woman if she is listening, I'm so deeply sorry and hope you find the happiness I selfishly took away from you."

"Wow." Walt said a little taken aback by how raw Q was being. "I'm sure she still cares for you a lot Q, I mean with her coming back to help with your tour and all." Brian simply responded with a shrug of his shoulders. 

"Believe me the girl I saw down in Key West looked so lost." Bryan said not thinking. "Maybe after a little time you..." 

"Hold on!" Brian said lifting his head. "What do you mean?! You saw Maren in Florida?!" His temper was now flaring as he stared right through one of his oldest friends. 

"I knew she was down there, yes." Bryan answered. 

"Cut the mics...NOW." He snapped. 

Once Bryan flipped the switch to stop recording he looked at his friend who was rarely angry with him. "Like it or not, I made the right choice that night by not telling you." 

"That wasn't for you to decide!" Q shouted. 

"No?! Who should have decided?! You who was drunk off your ass and probably would have said something stupid making things even worse? Face it you fucked up and she ran!" Bryan said standing up from the table to walk away now aggravated. 

"If I had seen her right then and there I could have talked to her. Too much time has passed. Too much time for her to think about how much she hates me. I know if I saw her months ago I could have smoothed things over you. You took that chance away from me!" Q shouted as he followed Bryan to the front of the store. 

"Bullshit!" Johnson screamed whipping around, "You were so angry still. You really think you would have been able to have a rational conversation with her?! Months later and you still can't convince her to take you back." He finished with an eye roll. "I was protecting you from yourself." 

Q rubbed his hands over his face as he came back down to earth. There were very few people he trusted 100 percent; few people were always straight with him and Johnson was one of the few. He took a deep breath to calm down. "I wish you would have told me. Things could be different right now if you had." 

"I don't think in the way you're thinking." Johnson said. "Give it time bud, you never know what could happen." 

Walt stepped forward after seeing the two friends cool down. They almost never fought, especially like this. "We can call it a night if you need to Q." 

Brian shook his head, "No I'm fine, let's keep going. Just give me 5 minutes." He then went outside to get some air and collect himself.   
________________________________  
It was early afternoon and Maren took a break from Tenderloins stuff to make an appointment she had. "Hi there, I'm Maren Mulligan here to see Attorney Kelly. 

"Of course!" The receptionist smiled. "He's expecting you." She said pointing to his office door. 

Maren knocked and entered smiling with her head held high. She had spoken to this attorney a few times on the phone and now that she was in New York she was taking the chance to meet with him. There was no way she was letting Jason get away with this without a fight. 

"Maren." He smiled brightly. 

"Attorney Kelly!" Maren greeted sticking her hand out. 

"Please it's Anthony." He insisted. 

As they chatted, Maren couldn't help shake the feeling that he was flirting with her. He was handsome and extremely nice so Maren couldn't help but smile and flirt back just a tad. Her kiss with Brian a few days ago really shook her but getting attention from another man was a weird but welcoming feeling. 

"Here's the thing..." Anthony started to say looking a little nervous, "I have an associate that is more familiar with these cases than me. He won a pretty big settlement last month on a case incredibly similar to this. If it's okay with you I would like to refer your case to him. I gave him a little information and he's excited to work with you." 

"Oh?" Maren asked a little confused, "If that's what you think is best, I guess that's alright." 

"I do, I feel he would be a perfect fit." He then handed Maren his friend's business card. "Give him a call, he's very nice and eager to get started." 

Maren stared at the card and then placed it in her purse. "Well thank you and I appreciate the help." 

As she went to leave she was stopped. "Umm Maren, I hope this isn't gonna come across as forward but..." He then started tripping over his words with nervousness, "With you not being my client anymore...I was hoping... maybe... would you like to get dinner sometime with me?" 

Maren stood wide-eyed. Did she really just get asked on a date?


	6. Beautiful, Crazy She Cant Help But Amaze Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Co written with Hopedanglesonastring

“Hi Joe!,” Maren said answering the phone from the backseat of her Uber.

“Mulls, Bessy is cooking. You’re coming to dinner tonight.” Joe wasn’t as much asking as he was telling her this is what was going to happen.

Maren smiled to herself. It had been some time since she had a home cooked meal. Dinner with the Gattos actually sounded like the perfect idea. “Name the time my friend. I actually finalized the itinerary so we could run through it if you want.”

“See your face at 6,” he said hanging up. Maren chuckled and smiled. She missed Joe a lot, and really felt like she let him down when she just walked out. Bessy and Joe were like family to Maren, and when she left she didn’t stop to think about how her leaving might affect anyone else. It never even crossed her mind at the time. ‘Yet I threw it in Brian’s face how selfish he was when the pictures leaked,” she sighed to herself as she watched the city go by from her window.

Joe walked into the kitchen and looked over at Bessy who groaned. “I know that look, what did you do?” Bessy asked cautiously.

“We have to set another place at the table. We’re expecting one more.” he said swiping an olive off the top of the salad she was making and popping it in his mouth.

“Tell me you didn’t.” Bessy looked over at her husband and spoke sternly. Joe just shrugged his shoulder and smiled at her. “So I supposed neither of them know then?!” She questioned nervously. “Do you really think this is a good idea?” she said unsure if she was half scolding her husband, or half asking in the hopes that maybe it would help. After all, they both did manage to get Maren back to New York.

“Guess we’ll find out,” Joe joked as he headed towards the dining room to decide how he should seat his two stubborn, broken hearted friends.

_____________________________________________

“How’d it go with the lawyer?” Kelsey was laying across the bed in the guest room of her upper east side apartment watching as Maren got ready to head to dinner in Long Island. 

“You’ll love this,” Maren chuckled as she did her makeup in the mirror. “He passed my case off to a lawyer friend of his and then proceeded to ask me to dinner.” 

“Wow. You’re not even back in New York 48 hrs and you got asked out?” Kelsey raised her eyebrows animatedly in her direction. “You’ve had quite the eventful last few days haven’t you?!” she kidded before curiosity got the best of her. “So, are you going to meet him for dinner?”

Maren shrugged, “I dunno. I mean, it wouldn’t hurt right? I’m going back to Florida.” Maren said with conviction when she turned to face Kelsey. 

It was the first time since Maren had returned that Kelsey began to realize that her best friend really had every intention of heading back to the Keys. Everyone was so happy that she was back, they completely overlooked that Maren wasn’t actually back. There was an expiration date to her visit and the countdown was on. Quite frankly, Kelsey didn’t think that was in anyone’s best interest. ‘Except, maybe Marens’  
Kelsey thought to herself and found herself once again torn. She was incredibly happy to see Maren so happy given everything that had happened, however she wished her back friend was back in New York City, with the man and job she loves.

“Alright, I will give your love to Bessy and the kids. I’ll probably be back late.” Maren said grabbing her purse and heading towards the front door.

“Ok, have a good time, but not such a good time that you’d change your mind and stay!” Kelsey called out jokingly after her.

Maren smiled, “Love you too Kels!!”

_____________________________________________

Sal stood beside Brian and knocked on the front door. He had heard all about how everything played out that night after their run in with Hailee, so he hoped that this night, the tradition that Joe started, of the ‘boys only’getting together for dinner before each tour, snapped Q out of it. It originally started out as dinner, but Joe always managed to up the ante by including something fun for the guys to do to blow off a little steam before heading on the road. One time it was renting some lanes at the Chelsea Pier driving range and firing golf balls out into the hudson. On another occasion, Joe rented out a bowling alley they all used to go to as kids, and just bowled the whole night. It was a way for the guys to reconnect as friends, before everything got so crazy hectic for them. All four of the guys always looked forward to these nights.

“Sup Bud,” Sal said leaning into Joe for a tap as he walked into the house. “Something smells delicious!” 

“Alright Joey, what is it this year?” Q quizzed his friend as he walked through the front door taking off his coat and American Flag scarf. 

“Funny you should mention that,” Joe began to say as Sals voice boomed loudly.

“Oh you are SHITTING ME!,” Sal exclaimed not believing his eyes.

“I’m too old for this shit,” Brian laughed as he caught sight of the gigantic oversized bright orange inflatable bounce house obstacle course set up out back of Joe’s yard.

“Kriss Krioss will make you Jump Jump” Joe jumped in a fit of laugher as another knock came at the door and in walked Murr.

“I have an idea, let’s all see if we can bounce this one back over to Manhattan,” Sal joked as he playfully punched Murr.

“Guys, foods ready!” Bessy called out from the kitchen over the voices of the guys laughing and joking around.

The sound of another knock on the front door caught everyone’s attention, since all the ‘boys’ for boys night were already in attendance.

“Joe... who’s at the front door?” Murray voice was slightly high pitched clearly curious.

“Joooee,” Sal groaned silently to himself as he slowly brought his hand to his face to hide it from who he was about to see when the door opened.

“Maren! So glad you could make it,” Joe said as he answered the door. Maren stood there, with two gigantic stuffed Mickey and Minnie dolls for the kids.

“Hi!!” Maren said rushing in looking down hoping to see Remo and Milana. Instead, she looked up to see 4Impractical Jokers.

As if on cue, 3 male voices questioned Joe, “You invited her to boys night?” at the exact same time Maren turned to Joe and said “You invited me to boys night?!?”

“That’s what I said!” Bessys voice could be heard saying front the kitchen.


	7. The Way That She Dances, Ain’t Afraid To Take Chances

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Co written with Hopedanglesonastring

Bessy saw the looks Maren was shooting Joe and honestly she couldn't blame her for being upset. "Maren!" Bessy called out, "Can you help me in the kitchen for a sec?"

Right when Maren entered the kitchen, Bessy immediately tried to explain. "He really does mean well, I swear." Bessy said trying to defend her husband. 

"Did you know..." Maren began to ask. 

"Like only 20 minutes before you all got here. There would have been no time to do anything about it." Bessy interjected. "Besides the kids really miss you around here, I didn't want you to back out." She smiled innocently. 

Maren knew there was nothing she could do; she was already here. She just shook her head and rolled her eyes, "You Gattos play dirty!" She laughed. 

Meanwhile in the living room, Q was on Joe's case. "Seriously?!" He asked raising his eyebrows once he was confident Maren was in the kitchen and out of earshot. 

"In case you forgot, you both are gonna be traveling together for 10 days. Can't avoid one another forever." Joe answered. "It will be fine bud." He said slapping his friend on the shoulder. "You girls need some help in there!" He yelled into the kitchen leaving Q to give Sal and Murray a look of help.   
_______________________________  
While the kids were still awake, Maren spent most of her time with them making it very obvious she was avoiding Brian. She even volunteered to help Bessy get them ready for bed. While the girls were upstairs the guys came in from the yard and got seated at the dining room table. When Maren came down laughing with Bessy about something she noticed their were only two spots left at the table, one next to Joe and one next to Brian at the end. She obviously knew Bessy would be taking the seat next to her husband so she looked awkwardly at the last seat. 

"Ya know I haven't become a leper since the last time you saw me, you can sit next to me." Brian snapped. 

Maren didn't want an argument so decided to just take the seat. Everyone else looked around uneasily at each other. As the dinner went on everyone was chatting amongst themselves. Everyone except for Maren and Brian who remained quiet as they ate their dinner. 

"Here." She said finally breaking their silence as she scooped up the mushrooms off her plate placing them on Brian's. Maren hated mushrooms and knew he couldn't get enough of them. It was her idea of a peace offering.

"Thanks." He said with a small smile. Glancing down he noticed her wine glass was almost empty so without asking, Brian reached over grabbing the bottle and refilled both their glasses. 

"Thanks." She whispered with a similar small smile locking eyes with the man next to her. 

"Mar you wanna go over the itineraries now while we finish up eating?" Murray asked. 

However there was no answer from the other side of the table. Maren and Brian were lost in their own world completely forgetting their were four other people at the table. "Maren?" Murray called out again to her attention. Sal and Joe exchanged looks at how clueless Murray was. "Maren?!" Murray called out a bit louder this time. 

"Huh?" She asked snapping back to reality. 

"Itinerary. Do you have it?" Murray asked. 

"Oh yeah!" She said whipping around to grab her bag. In the process of turning around too quickly her arm hit her wine glass causing it to spill into Brian's lap. "Shit!" She exclaimed as Brian looked down at the mess. "Brian I'm so sorry! Your pants!" 

"It's fine Maren." Brian insisted. 

"No it's not, that's gonna stain. I'm such a klutz." She said quickly grabbing a stack of napkins. Without thinking she began blotting the wine stain on his pants which happened to be directly over his crotch. Suddenly she stopped, realizing she was touching the most intimate part of his body and withdrew her hand immediately. 

Noticing how red with embarrassment her face was becoming, he grabbed the napkins and smirk. "I can take it from here." He said softly before excusing himself to the bathroom to clean himself up as best he could.   
________________________________  
Maren and Bessy has just finished loading the dishwasher as they heard the commotion outside. The guys couldn't hold back after dinner and took off into the blow up obstacle courses as soon as they could. Both women looked out the window and laughed as they watched grown men act like children. "You okay?" Bessy finally asked. 

"What is wrong with me?" Maren pouted. 

Bessy let out a laugh, "Nothing!" 

"Seriously...I'm around the man for a matter of minutes and I turn into a stumbling idiot." She sighed hitting the counter with a dish towel out of frustration. 

"You were in love with him Maren, those feelings don't go away easily." Bessy smiled sadly giving her friend a tight hug. 

As Maren watched Bessy walk out onto the deck and into the backyard she sighed heavily. "I wish it was past tense" she thought as she grabbed her wine glass and followed outside.

"This thing better not rip up my grass Joe!" Bessy yelled to her husband. 

"It's fine babe!" He answered laughing as he pushed Murray clear across the wall watching him bounce like a rubber ball. It looked like they were all having so much fun that Bessy couldn't resist and slipped her shoes off to join the excitement. 

Maren stayed back and sipped her wine laughing at everyone. Sal and Murray were racing to see who could climb the inflatable ladder faster while Joe and Bessy jumped their way over the slide. Everyone was having a carefree fun night. 

"Hey!" She heard Brian call out to her as he climbed out. 

"Hey" she replied laughing as she saw him struggling. Once he was able to finally free himself he walked over to her. "This thing is insane." She smiled. 

"That's Gatto for ya, Never does anything normal." He replied picking up the beer he had abandoned earlier and took a welcoming sip. 

"This thing kinda reminds me of the obstacle course from the Nitro Circus show. Minus the motorcycles." 

"Oh man..." He laughed before taking another sip of his beer, "That was a huge fight!" 

"Oh my god, I was so pissed off at you." She said shaking her head recalling their first major blowout...one of many.

2 Years Earlier

Tonight was a huge live show the guys were shooting for Tru. They had partnered up with Nitro Circus and Maren was co-working with Tru executives on this one as their tour manager. She had been working for the guys for about 4 months now and so far was enjoying it very much. That is when she wasn't getting an attitude from Q; that was a man that really knew how to push her buttons. Today he was worse than ever because he was pouting about not being able to compete tonight. 

Last week when the guys were training with the Nitro Circus Q had taken a nasty fall on an ATV causing it to flip over and break a few of his ribs. He pushed and pushed but ultimately the network's doctors refused to clear him to participate tonight. They decided last minute to bring in Joey Fatone to take his place. As much as Q loved Fatone and was grateful, he was still upset he wouldn't be competing. 

This show was the season finale of season 5 so once this was done, the guys were totally Maren's responsibility for the remainder of the year with a fully packed tour schedule. So needless to say she needed Q rested and at a hundred percent going forward.

"Maren!" She heard her name being called out. When she turned she was pleasantly surprised to see her new friend, Kelsey. 

"Hey babes!" She smiled giving her a hug. Kelsey being with the public relations of Tru was a huge part of tonight. She had worked around the clock to make sure this was a success. "Drinks tonight?" Maren asked seeing the look of stress on her friend's face. 

"You read my mind! I'm gonna need like 10!" Kelsey said. "You seen the guys?" She asked. "I need them for photos upstairs." 

"Last I saw they were over there." Maren answered pointing to the row of bikes on the dirt flooring of the obstacle course. 

As the two women walked around looking for the Jokers, Maren's face went pale as a ghost when she saw Brian racing around on a dirt bike trying to jump over the ridges set up. "What the hell are you doing?!" Maren shouted over the loudness of the engine. However it was no use, the loudness of he arena blocked out Maren's voice and Brian kept on riding. 

"What part of not cleared did he not understand?!" She yelled in Sal's ear. Sal's only response was a shrug of his shoulders. Q knew he shouldn't be on any of this equipment but Sal or any of the other guys were in the mood to have that fight with him. 

"Fucking nailed it!" Brian said when he made the jump perfectly. He cut the engine and had a proud smile on his face. 

"Have you lost your god damn mind?!" Maren yelled now that she knew she could be heard. 

"What?!" He snapped. 

"Whatta mean what?!" Maren shouted, "You're not medically cleared. You shouldn't be on any of this stuff!" 

Brian rolled his eyes as he got off the bike and went to walk away from his overreacting tour manager. "Pipe down on the temper tantrum Maren. I was just having a little fun." He said walking by her. 

Maren had had it at the point. Yes Brian was her boss but the constant disrespect was not in her job description. "Excuse me? What gives you the right to talk to me like that?" She said following after him. 

"Umm I sign your paychecks for one." He said whipping around to stare her down. "And what I do on my free time is none of your concern." 

Maren was beyond furious now. "Just because you pay me doesn't mean you can talk to me like that! And it is my business what you do on your free time if you get even more injured and can't go on tour next week." 

"Oh Jesus Christ, would you put a fucking lid on it. I was riding a dirt bike, not a space rocket! You really need to calm down with these neurotic outbursts. They're getting old." He barked at her. 

"Look I don't know if your precious man ego is hurt because you're injured and now can't hang with the big boys tonight but get the fuck over it Quinn!" She shouted. 

"My man ego?!" He repeated laughing sarcastically. "You really think you got me all figured out, don't ya?" 

"Men like you are all the same." She said folding her arms across her chest. 

"Men like me?" He asked before a light bulb went off in his head. "Oh I get it...that's why you're always busting my balls. What's the matter sweetheart, I remind you of an ex boyfriend. Poor sap that got sick of dealing with your shit and now I have to suffer. 

Maren's blood was now boiling. The wounds Jason left on her were still very fresh. "Ya know what Quinn, do whatever the fuck you want. I don't care anymore." She said and turned on her heels to walk away. 

"Don't worry I intend to!" He yelled after her as she climbed the stairs in the stands to get as much distance from him as possible. 

Present: 

"You were a real jerk that night." She laughed as she recalled their argument. 

"Yeah guess I was." He shrugged then was silent for a moment. "Come on!" He then called out taking her wine glass from her hand and setting it down on the patio table. 

"Huh?" She questioned as Brian grabbed her hand and started to drag her towards the huge inflatable structure. She couldn't protest because she was too focused on Brian's touch. Holding his hand had become such a natural thing to her and now that she hadn't in months it was an odd but welcoming feeling again. 

"I really don't wanna go in there." She said trying to wiggle free from his grip but it was no use. Before she knew what was happening her feet left the ground and Brian was throwing her through the entrance of it. 

"Brian!" She squealed with an uncontrollable laughter escaping her. He quickly followed in after her reaching for her converse sneakers and tossing them outside. 

Everyone else was on the clear other side of it enjoying themselves so it was just the two of them. Maren kept trying to stand up unsuccessful due to Brian's constant jumping. 

"Can you give me a minute to stand up!" She shouted face red from laughter. 

Brian slowed down and reached for her hand to pull her up. Without a second thought she grabbed it and came to her feet. For those moments, all the drama from the past was gone. They were just two people having fun acting like kids. 

Maren tried to channel her inner gymnast skills from middle school but was failing miserably. Brian couldn't help but tease her about it. 

They made their way across it to the first slide in an attempt to make it over to everyone else. Maren climbed first. As she ascended the ladder going up, Brian couldn't help but admire her ass in the leggings she was wearing. He took a couple deep breaths to calm his thoughts. 'Not gonna happen Quinn.' He said silently to himself. 

"You coming?!" She yelled down to him noticing he wasn't following. 

Maren screamed and laughed as she slid down the massive slide. She couldn't remember the last time she had acted this goofy and had this much fun. 

However her thoughts were cut short when she heard Brian yell on his way down the slide, "Watch out!" He hollered coming down too fast and colliding right into her. 

"Ouch!" She exclaimed after having his body slam right into hers but the two couldn't stop laughing. 

Confident she was okay due to the laughter, he rubbed his head that had hit the side of hers, "I told you to watch out!" He yelled. 

"We're getting too old for this!" She said rubbing her neck that she knew was going to be killing in the morning. As she tried to stand she lost her balance and fell right on top of him. "Shit my ankle." She said feeling a pull of some kind. 

"You okay?" He asked concerned reaching for her ankle to have a look at it. 

Maren then noticed that feeling again in the pit of her stomach. Her ankle was the last thing on her mind as she felt Brian's touch. The way his face scrunched up as he examined it looking for a bruise or the start of swelling. He was gorgeous. 

Brian looked up when she hadn't answered. "Are you okay?" He repeated. 

"I think so." She said trying to control her breathing. Being this close to him was just too dangerous but even knowing that she was frozen against his body. 

He felt it too. Slowly he moved his face closer to hers and pressed their foreheads together. "Maren." He whispered. 

Their lips were so close. Hers still burned from the last time they kissed. Brian cupped her face in his strong hands as he debated on his next move.


	8. And Wears Her Heart On Her Sleeve

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Co written with Hopedanglesonastring

Without hesitation Maren dove forward and planted her lips on his. Lingering on them for a few minutes, she tasted them slowly before sliding her tongue into his mouth. The smile that his lips formed was contagious, spreading quickly to her face. In these few moments while they kissed, everything was right in the world. They both knew it, which is why they both were hesitant to come up for air, not knowing what would happen once they pulled apart and stared into each other’s eyes, before the fears and doubt grabbed hold of them.

Carefree laughter filled the air as Bessy and the rest of the guys played on the bounce house nearby, but these two weren’t backing down from this kiss. It wasn’t until Maren’s phone rang, that they both even realized where they were. 

Brian groaned as Maren pulled away stumbling as she tried to get to her feet. “I really hate whoever is calling you right now.” he moaned. Being the gentleman he was though he helped her to her feet, even though he was more than happy to watch her continue struggling so that she’d stay. 

Maren hurried out of the bounce house towards the ringing of her phone. But mostly she was quick to run. Run away from Brian and what she just let happen. Grabbing her purse off the deck she searched for her phone. “Guys I gotta run. I’ll see you tomorrow morning at the airport,” she called out loud across the yard, making sure she avoided eye contact with Brian at all costs.

Brian couldn’t stand to watch the woman he love run away from him yet again anyway, so he laid on his back in the bounce house looking up towards the sky until he knew she was gone.

“Dude. Did something happen? She took off quick!” Joe asked as he bounced his way over towards Brian.

Brian stood to his feet and shook his head, “Naw my friend, just Maren.. running. Yet again.” There was no emotion, or expression on his face as he patted Joes shoulder and hopped off the bounce house. “See you at the airport tomorrow bud.”

___________________________________________

“Hey, you’re back earlier than I thought you’d be,” Kelsey said looking up from the couch as Maren walked in. She immediately knew something wasn’t quite right with her.

“Yeah well, my ‘friends’”, Maren mocked in air quotes, “like to keep me in the dark about who else they are inviting for dinner or for drinks,” Maren rolled her eyes in a huff as she headed towards the guest room.

“Oh boy,” Kelsey sighed to herself as she headed towards the guest room after Maren. “Sal and I seriously didn’t invite him that night he was just THERE,” Kelsey stressed.

Maren darted out of the guest room, “I didn’t even stop to think, when Joe called me for dinner tonight. The NIGHT before a tour, is always boys night!” Maren shook her head wondering how she could be so dumb. “I kissed him Kelsey,” Maren admitted sounding defeated. Exhausted she dragged herself over to the couch and slid down.

Kelsey poured a glass of wine and handed it to Maren as she spoke, “Maren, look. We all love you. Both of you. None of this has been easy on any of us, we all miss you and we hate seeing him so heart broken,” Kelsey didn’t want to upset Maren, but there were things she needed to say. Whether or not Maren was ready didn’t matter, it was time for her to hear it. “You dropped everything and ran Maren, and you’re doing it again. When you and Jason broke up, it took you years to get over him. And even THEN you gave him another chance. But here, Brian messes up once and you drop everything and run.” 

Maren laid there on the couch for a few moments, tears welling in her eyes. Kelsey had a point and she knew it. Maren also knew she was tired of hearing about how heartbroken Brian was. “My heart was broken too Kelsey. I loved him and when I needed him most, he wasn’t there. I can’t re-do what I did with Jason. Keep giving them chances and chances to break my heart.” Maren explain calmly. Standing up she turned to Kelsey, “I’m heading to bed. The car will be here for the airport early. I’ll be gone before you wake. I’ll call you when I land. I love you.” Maren hugged her friend tightly before she disappeared behind the door of Kelsey’s guest room.

Pulling out her phone she decided it was too late to call, opting instead to send a text.

“Hi Anthony. Sorry I missed your call before, I was finishing up work. I leave early in the morning, but would love to have dinner when I get back.  
_______________________________________

“Maren!” Murr greeted as he walked into the Delta Sky Lounge around 6:30am. “We the only ones here?” he asked looking around. 

Maren was half asleep, hair up in a bun, sunglasses on. She was in an oversized hoodie and yoga pants. Mornings weren’t her thing. “Murr, I love you bud, but you need to take it down a notch. The sun isn’t even out. I’m not even sure I’m awake yet.”

Murr let out a chuckle, “Well, I come bearing gifts!” He reached into his backpack and pulled out a book. “Got the first run of The Brink from the publisher the other day. I was hoping you’d read it and let me know what you think?”

Maren smiled and happily took the book. Murr was always so kind and wonderful to her. “Murr this is fantastic, so proud of you! Congratulations my friend. I’d be honored to read it.” She said leaning in to hug him.

“Thank you. It’s been quite a ride, but I’m proud of it.” He looked around and then down at his watch. “So, you ready for this?” 

Maren smiled realizing that he didn’t just mean the tour, he meant spending the next 10 days in close contact with Brian. She didn’t let on that she knew what he meant though. “James, I was your tour manager for 2 years! I think I can handle 10 more days. I’m gonna go use the restroom. I’ll be right back!” she said as she stood and walked away.

“Sup cupcake” Joe said as he strolled in, taking a seat next to Murr.

“You sure this is a good idea? I mean they are hardly talking.” Murr turned to his friend with a worried look on his face.

Joe let out a small laugh, “Nows a great time to worry about that bud.” shaking his head, he continued. “Murr, it’s 10 days. It will be fine. There she is!” Joe said looking up to see Maren heading back their way. 

Joe leaned down and kissed Maren on the cheek. “You ready to get your tour on?” he asked doing a little dance.

Maren laughed, “Yes, once I finally wake up.” Pulling the top of her hoodie over her head, she took her seat between Murr and Joe.

“Hey can we go over a few logistics while I grab some fruit?” He asked motioning over to the breakfast buffet. 

“Sure” Maren stood up and followed him to the buffet. She didn’t notice when Sal and Brian had joined them in the lounge, taking a seat near Murr.

Brian spotted her immediately, mesmerized by how adorable she looked completely dressed down. Mornings weren’t her thing, and he was well aware. A smile spread across his face, only for it to fade quickly once he remembered that she was no longer his. 

“Are you gonna be ok bud? 10 days is a long time?” Murr asked as he studied Brian.

Brian shrugged, “Do I have a choice?”  
_____________________________________________

It was about 3 hours into the flight when Maren woke up. Thankfully, Joe took the seat next to her, avoiding any musical chair mishaps resulting in Brian having to sit next to her. He wasn’t far though, just across the aisle. Leaning forward a little, she glanced in his direction and noticed he was passed out. Watching him sleep always made her smile, and this time was no exception. It spread across her lips for seconds.

Yet Joe noticed quickly. “Morning Sunshine!” Leaning in closer he whispered, “Do you always smile like that when you watch your ex boyfriends sleep?” he joked pretending to be serious, before winking at her.

Maren swatted him, “Stop,” she shushed him and leaned back in her seat. All she wanted to do was curl up in her hoodie and try to sleep the rest of the plane ride away. Then Joe put down his tablet. Maren groaned then whispered sharply to him , “No!” she let go of her knees that were up in her chest and planted her feet back on the floor. Turning to him, she looked him square in the eye and continued whispering, “You’re not going to do this Gatto,” she sassed at him. “Oh no. You asked ME to come back, and I did, for you! So don’t EVEN!” she squealed feigning like she was mad, but was totally enjoying having the upper hand. It was her turn to wink, which she did before pulling her hood back up and leaning against the window.

“I was 14 years old. A freshman, and there was this kid in Algebra. He was quiet and unsure of himself a little. I guess we all were, it’s high school and everyone’s just trying to figure shit out. He always had a comic book hidden between his book and would always look over to this shy redhead who sat near us. It was Valentines Day and the student council sold carnations for $1 that you could send to your friend in another class. The redhead got one. So after class, I went up to him and said “Did you send the redhead a carnation,” Joe chuckled quietly to himself, “ya know like ‘Eww girls are gross still kinda thing how could you do that’ right so, he said ‘Yeah. I don’t think she has many friends and I think she gets picked on a lot. I sent it anonymously just to brighten her day.’ That 14 yr old boy, is sitting across the aisle from you.” 

Maren’s breathe caught in her throat, her cheeks turned blush. Leaning forward again, she once more lowered her hoodie. Before she turned to Joe, her eyes made their way right back to Brian.

Joe patted her knee, “I’ve known him over 30 years Maren. He loves you.” he smiled assuringly at her before standing up and walking down the aisle.

Peacefully still asleep and with Joe being gone she was able to see all of him laying back in his seat. His one arm draped across his chest, with his palm face down. Each breathe he took filled his chest as it slowly rose up and then down again. Missing him in Florida was much easier than missing him 5 feet away. Letting out a slow deep breathe, Maren once again pulled her hoodie over her head and leaned against the window, contemplating if she really did make a mistake. Anxiousness washed over her uncomfortably, so she reached down into her purse for a Xanax. The last thing she needed was to have a panic attack on a plane.  
_____________________________________________

Falling from the air, Maren opened her eyes, knowing she was still in a dream. It wasn’t until she looked around and saw everyone shuffling about their seats nervous and looking around. Seated next to her now was Brian, who was looking at her, his lips moved and it took a second for her to actually hear him, “It’s ok, just a little turbulence.” he said soothingly as he squeezed her hand. 

Maren opened her eyes wider and looked around, “I thought I was dreaming..” she said rubbing her eyes. The plane began to shake gently at first then faster before it smoothed out again. Maren clung quickly on to Brian’s arm to steady herself. She looked over at his eyes quickly, her voice shaky, “Brian..”

He rubbed her knee, “Babe it’s ok, relax.. it’s just bad weather, it’s going to be fine,” he pulled down the window shade so Maren wouldn’t become more afraid. “Sal, how you doin bud?”

Sal wasn’t a very good flyer to begin with, so needless to say he wasn’t doing well. Joe had swapped seats with Brian and was now sitting next to Sal. “Hes fine. Right bud, you got this.” Joe said smacking Sals knee. Sal however was bent over hiding in his hoodie, grasping on to the arms of his seat tightly.

“Good Evening folks, as you can see we’ve encountered some turbulence as we begin our decent. Heavy storms in the area will make for a rough landing. Please take a moment to read the emergency landing instructions in the seat pockets in front of you. In the event we have to make an emergency landing, the Captain will come over the loud speaker making the announcement.”

“Brian!” Maren’s voice broke and her hands shook as she squeezed his arm even tighter.

“Hey hey, shh.. “ he whispered as he used his free arm to reach over and tug on her seatbelt making sure it was tight. The plane started dipping rapidly and shaking slowly.

Maren looked over at Joe who was trying to calm down Sal, then scanned the cabin for Murr. Hitting several pockets of air, the plane bounced a few times as several people gasped. Several overhead compartments opened up as carry on cases fell to the floor. Maren squeezed her eyes tight trying to hold back tears and focused on her breathing.

“I’m right here, we’re almost on the ground,” Brian whispered reassuringly as he reached his arm around her shoulder, pulling her into his chest, before placing a kiss on her forehead and bracing her tightly.

In the midst of all of this chaos high up in the air, amongst strangers holding hands, silent prayers being said, bargains being made with god & the devil. In the face of fear Maren Mulligan realized she was home.


	9. She Makes Plans For The Weekend, Can’t Wait To Go Out

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Co written with Hopedanglesonastring

After over an hour of waiting before they could actually exit Maren and the boys were now stranded in Ireland. The woman at the desk was being as nice as possible but had explained due to their unexpected landing, they wouldn't be getting a flight to London until tomorrow. 

"Okay that just isn't gonna work." Maren said. "We need to be in London tonight." 

"I understand ma'am and I really apologize but there is just nothing I can do. I will gladly get you all arrangements for a hotel tonight." The young woman offered. 

Normally Maren was an understanding person and knew things happened as it was not this girl's fault. However she was still on edge from the landing from hell and if she didn't get these four guys to London tonight for their meet and greet they could kiss their careers in London goodbye. Kyle had already dropped the ball with the first meet and greet he promised. If the guys failed to show up for the second there was no coming back from that. 

Maren glanced back and saw all four guys sitting nearby hoping Maren could get this figured out. She couldn't let them down...not again. "There has to be another option." 

Brian looked on as Maren stood at the customer service desk for quite some time. This wasn't the Maren that was afraid or had anxiety issues. This was tour manager Maren; the Maren that did whatever possible to make their tours successful. This was take no shit and ass kicking Maren and this Maren was pretty damn sexy. 

Murray glanced down at his watch and started shaking his leg up and down with nervousness. "Dude we gotta get to London really soon. We can't let all of these people down." 

"Relax Murr, Maren will take care of it." He said looking her way and smiling. "She always does." 

Maren walked back over to her bosses, "Let's go. We gotta move!" She ordered. 

"You got us a flight out?" Sal asked. 

"There are none until tomorrow so I booked us a private plane out of here. They're getting our bags for us now. Come on!" She called over her shoulder leading the way.   
________________________________  
It was a mad dash to the correct gate that led out onto the runway and onto a small private plane. The flight to London was only 45 minutes so they would be arriving shortly. 

"Private plane, very nice Mar." Joe smiled as everyone buckled up. 

"Don't thank me, it's coming out of the tour budget." She laughed. 

"Regardless...you saved our asses!" Joe said behind appreciative for her fast thinking. 

"Isn't that why you called me." She smiled. 

After takeoff they were up and the air and needless to say a little cramped. Joe and Brian sat next to each other on one side while Maren, took the window seat on the other side next to Murray who was sandwiched between her and Sal. 

"You really need to stop kicking my ankle!" Sal snapped at Murray. 

"What would you like me to do Sal?!" Murray asked getting annoyed. "My fucking knees are in my throat for god sakes." 

"Move over a little!" Sal said shoving Murray into Maren with his elbow. 

The force of Murray pushed Maren into a ball in the corner. "Enough!" She shouted as she stood up. Taking two steps to the right she looked back and motioned for Murray to slide over. This gave her enough room to wiggle in between the two men. "Honestly you both are worse than children." She then glared at Sal, "I'm not Murray, you better not think of pushing me Vulcano." She said.

It had been a long day. She was tired, hungry, stressed out, and in desperate need of a shower; Maren Mulligan was in no mood for bickering from James and Sal. However throughout the whole hellish day there was something positive that stuck out and it was sitting directly across from her. The way Brian quickly jumped into action when he needed her was nothing short of amazing. She wanted to take a minute and thank him but wanted to do it when they were alone. As the plane fell silent Maren and Brian locked eyes. He knew she was thinking about him and gave her a subtle smile. 

Brian had his phone resting on his knee and for a moment it lit up and that's when Maren saw it. His background on his phone was a picture from their trip together. They were curled up early in the morning with the sunrise behind them on the boat he had chartered. Her hair was a mess from the wind but the smile on her face was bright and his arm was tightly around her. He was protecting her in this picture; just like he was always going to. It was at that exact moment Maren knew how wrong she had been. Brian Quinn really truly loved her. 

Brian noticed Maren look at the picture on his phone. He wanted to talk to her too but like her wanted to wait until they were alone. For now all he could settle for was a small wink that instantly caused her cheeks to blush.   
________________________________

Maren scrambled quickly to get a van to pick them at from the airport with all their luggage. The other guys had noticed a lightening in the atmosphere and knew it must have been a result of their scary landing coming in. As the bags were loaded into the van, Maren climbed in first taking the back row. Quickly sliding in next to her was Brian who made sure to spread himself out so no one else could squeeze in with them. As they started their drive to the hotel she felt a soft brush across her hand. Glancing down she smiled when she saw Brian lock his fingers between hers. While the three others chatted in the front seats Maren and Brian contently stayed silent enjoying whatever this was between them at the moment.   
_______________________________  
"Alright guys..." Maren began as they pulled closer to the hotel. "We gotta be quick, we have one hour before we need to leave. As you know there was scheduling conflicts at the arena so meet and greets have to be before the show instead of afterwards. Let's check in, freshen up, and I need you back down here by 5:30 sharp." 

When Maren got in these work modes all four guys knew better than to protest. She was super organized and always had everything written out minute by minute. Brian was still itching to get her alone and talk to her but when Maren had her manager hat on, he knew it wasn't the best time. 

Maren let out a relieved sigh when she noticed the lobby wasn't busy. The last thing they needed right now was a circus of crazy IJ fans. As the front desk attendants assisted in checking in one of the girls smiled at Maren. "You're a very lucky woman." She said to Maren. 

At first she assumed this girl knew the show and was commenting on that but then when she saw her turn around and place a massive bouquet of flowers on the desk she was stunned. "These were sent for you. I must say they are absolutely stunning." The woman beamed in her strong British accent.

Sal,Joe, and Murray all glanced at Brian who looked like he was ready to punch a wall at any second. Without even thinking he grabbed the card off of the flowers to read.   
Haven't been able to stop thinking about you. Hope you have a great time on your trip. Can't wait for our date. See you soon  
-Anthony 

Flinging it back on the desk, Brian grabbed for his suitcase pretty aggressively from the poor bellhop. "Do you have my key?!" He snapped to the young woman. 

"Ye.. yes sir." She said shakily handing over the key card. "Room 1203." She directed but it was no use, he had already turned around to locate the elevators. 

"Brian!" Maren called after him abandoning her things with the other guys. "Brian wait!" Maren continued to call out as she quickly caught up with him. "Brian talk to me." She said grabbing his arm as he reached for the elevator button. 

"Don't!" He snapped. When he turned around Maren saw a sadness in his eyes. He was trying to play that he was angry but Maren saw the true Brian, the hurt Brian. 

"What you did for me on that plane..." she started to say. 

"Clearly meant nothing!" He finished her sentence. 

"No!" She protested, "It meant everything." She sighed heavily. This wasn't a conversation she wanted to have in the middle of a hotel lobby but this is where they were. "You're right...I ran. But you..." Tears began to escape her eyes, "You have been trying to apologize for months and I wouldn't let you. I'm sorry." 

"You're seeing someone." He responded shaking his head. 

"No no I'm not!" She insisted shaking her head violently. 

"So you just have random guys sending you flowers in London?!" He exclaimed throwing his hands up. "You have a date planned for when you get back." By now the elevator had come and gone so Brian was forced to hit the button a second time and wait again. "And what drives me so fucking crazy and I have been feeling like an asshole for months wanting nothing more than to make everything up to you and you've already moved on." 

"You think I've moved on?!" She shouted. "Just because I happened to talk to someone and agree to a date doesn't mean I'm over you. You above everyone else should understand that Brian!" 

"I haven't talked to any girls since you!" Brian yelled back. 

"Oh Brian please I'm not stupid." She said rolling her tear filled eyes which in turn caused the tears to fall more. 

"You may want to believe that I'm some misogynistic asshole but the last women I've been with is you! He exclaimed. 

"I haven't been with this guy!" She was now yelling at the top of her lungs. 

"Hey!" Sal said coming over in a harsh whisper, "You guys are attracting the attention of everyone. Keep it down." Joe and Murray were fast on Sal's heels in case he needed back up with these two. 

The elevator doors opened and Brian stepped on with his suitcase. "I don't even care anymore." Maren stood as she watched the doors close, now only looking back at her reflection in the shiny brass doors.   
________________________________  
Brian refused to let the fans down yet again so somehow he managed to put on a smiling face for the meet and greet and the live show. There was also an Ant meetup at one of the local pubs that he popped into for an hour to take pictures and meet longtime TESD listeners from over the pond. 

However throughout the night he would find his mind drifting back to Maren. It was very rare that he cared about an ex dating someone else but this one felt like a giant hole in his gut. Sal has tried to get him to talk about it but he flat out refused. There was nothing Sal was ever going to say that would make this situation better. He hadn’t seen much of Maren since the hotel lobby. She was still doing her responsibilities but during the little bit of downtime they had between the meet and greet and live show, Maren was nowhere to be seen. Only reappearing backstage before the guys went out. 

Brian left the bar he was at with the Ants early and when he walked outside he was met with pouring rain. Quickly he pulled his hood over his head and decided to walk back to the hotel a few blocks away. He arrived back at the hotel just as the winds began picking up. 

“Gonna be a bad one tonight.” The doorman said as Brian entered. “Forecast is saying thunder and lightening all night with flooding.” 

Brian didn’t feel like making small talk so just gave a small smile with head nod. He noticed the hotel bar was still opened and decided on one more drink before bed. As he ordered his last beer of the night he jumped at the startling sound of thunder that felt like it shook the building. It was then that something suddenly dawned on him.


	10. ‘Til She Changes Her Mind And Says Let’s Stay On The Couch And Watch Tv

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Co written with Hopedanglesonastring

The faint glow from the clock on the nightstand showed 1:30am. Night 1 of the tour was a success and Maren was grateful to finally be alone and back in her hotel room. It wasn’t long however before the weight of the day became too much. 

Earlier, while running a bath Maren slowly began to sob. It wasn’t the emergency landing, or that she came really close to messing up the first show. It was the look on Brian’s face by the elevator. Maren tried blocking it out the whole night, even doing her best to avoid backstage and the green room. As she sat on the floor in the bathroom sobbing, Maren realized it was all her fault. If she never ran none of this would be happening. A bottle of wine later and after texting with Kelsey for a little while, Maren finally succumbed to the exhaustion from the day.   
_____________________________________________

The power flickered off and on a few times so he opted to take the stairs. Last thing he needed was to get stuck in an elevator again, seeing as how well that went last time. Even after a few drinks, he took two steps at a time as he climbed the stairs up to the 5th floor. Maren had always texted the guys her room number so that they would have it, and this tour was no different. The lights flickered in the stairwell followed by another loud clap of thunder, which caused Brian to move a little faster, finally reaching the door to the fifth floor, not far from where he was headed.  
____________________________________________

Startled awake, Maren turned on the bedside lamp as she sat up. “Shit,” she whispered under her breath as she sat up, rubbing her eyes. Her shirt was slightly damp. Ever since Maren was little she was terrified of thunderstorms at night when she was alone. It was something she could never shake as an adult. Much like her singing, it was something no one really knew. The light flickered off and on a few times causing Maren to rush out of bed and get dressed. She didn’t care that it was 1:30 in the morning, she threw on a pair of yoga pants and her hoodie as she headed towards the door. She didn’t want to be alone in her room during the storm, even if she was in a hotel surrounded by rooms filled with other people. Turning the door handle, she pulled open the door to her room..

_____________________________________________  
2 years ago

Season 5 of Impractical Jokers had just finished production and Maren found herself invited to the wrap party the guys threw each year for the crew. Maren was about 10 months into her job and wouldn’t pass up the the opportunity to become better friends with the other people the Jokers spent the majority of their time with. Surely they had plenty of stories to tell.

“Mulligan is in tha house!” Cha’s voiced announced loudly when Maren walked in to the bar “I was hoping the boys invited you! Let’s get a drink in your hand!” The party was in full effect, the drinks were flowing and the music was loud.

“Maren!!” Sal shouted in her direction which caused Brian to turn his head also. Taking a swig of his beer he turned back around and continued throwing darts at the board. 

“Sally boy, congrats on another season!” Maren said leaning into give him a hug. “Thanks for the invite!”

“Thank you, glad your here babygirl. You ready for the next road trip??” Sal questioned as he sipped the drink in his hand.

Maren chuckled and smiled,” Depends.. Hey Sal lemme ask you something?” Maren glanced over in Brian’s direction then back to Sal, she whispered. “Do you think Brian and I will ever get along?”

Sal leaned back and slowly smiled at Maren as he put his hand on her shoulder, “Mulls, come on. You weren’t born yesterday!” 

Maren looked on confused, “What? What do you mean?” She quizzed Sal.

Sal smiled and shook his head, “Nevermind Mar.. yes you and Brian will get along one day. I promise you that.” He said placing both his hands on her arms. He winked at her and walked away.

Maren smiled at him and then looked in Brian’s direction. He was still throwing darts with a few of the production assistants. 

“Can I get a Yeungling, bottle please?” she ordered from the bartender and placed down some cash.

Grabbing the bottle, Maren made her way next to where Brian was standing. “Hey. Thought you could use another one of these.” she said handing Brian the beer bottle. 

Brian looked down at it and then smiled up at her, “Thanks. You play darts?” He motioned towards the board.

“I mean, I can try!” she said handing him her drink. Taking the dart from him, she threw it clumsily, missing the board entirely.

Brian laughed, “Well, we found something you suck at Ms Tour Manager extraordinaire,” he joked. 

“Wait wait, no.. lemme try again. I can do this,” Maren said rolling up her sleeves. “Actually, why don’t we put a little wager on this!??” Maren raised her eyebrows in his direction.

“You sure you wanna do that Maren?” Brian smirked at her as he continued taking swigs from his beer.

Maren had seen that smirk a thousand times from him. It was dripping with cockiness, but somehow still managed to be endearing. There were plenty of times where she imagined completely wiping that smirk off his face. 

“Yeah. Let’s see. If I win, you have to stop being such a dick on tour. If you win.. well..” Maren started to say and then her voice trailed. She grabbed the darts quickly from the table and fired them off in succession towards the board. All 3 of them hitting the bullseye. “You won’t win, so...” Maren said slyly shrugging at him.

Brian stood there with his mouth wide open, looking from the dart board to her and back to the dart board. Maren did a little victory dance in front of him. “Wow. Maren Mulligan. Didn’t think you had that up your sleeve!” Brian said shaking his head a little. He wouldn’t admit it, but he was in awe right now.

“There’s a lot you don’t know Brian,” Maren winked as she sipped on her drink. 

“Hmm. Well, what else then Mar? Tell me something, no one else knows!” Brian played along. After all, this woman surprised him once already tonight.

Maren laughed as she tapped her lips deep in thought, “Alright Quinn, let’s see ..” Brian looked on pleasantly amused by this woman for once. 

Walking over towards him, she grabbed his beer from him and finished it off, before leaning in close and whispering “I’m afraid of thunderstorms at night. If anyone ever makes fun of me for it, I know who to come see.” A huge smile spread across her face as she winked up at him. “Have a good night Brian!” 

A small smile spread across Brian’s lips as he watched Maren walk away from him and join in with the rest of the party. He looked around quickly to make sure no one caught the smile on his face or the way he watched her walk away


	11. And She Falls Asleep

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Co written with Hopedanglesonastring

She didn't want to be alone in her room during the storm, even if she was in a hotel surrounded by rooms filled with other people. Turning the door handle, she pulled open the door to her room. The wind was blowing furiously outside and branches from the trees were scratching the window. Maren whipped around as her heart raced in her chest. The lightening came across the sky again lighting up her room momentarily before leaving her in the dark again. She was so distracted by the storm she let out a gasp when she turned back towards the open door and saw that she wasn't alone. 

There he was out of breath but standing before her. "Are you okay?" He asked stepping into her room noticing her pupils were dilated and her breathing was at a rapid pace; two signs that she was trying to control her anxiety. 

"Brian what are you doing here?" She asked still in a state of shock. 

He walked across the room over to window and shut the blinds, figuring the less she saw the lightening the better. "I know how much you hate thunder and lightening, I wanted to check on you." He answered.

Maren was confused, no one knew she was afraid of thunder and lightening not since she was a child that is. "That night you whipped my ass in darts." He smiled. 

It started to clink and Maren just shook her head in disbelief, "You actually remember that?" 

"I remember everything about you baby." He said. 

Maren's lips were immediately on Brian's kissing his harder than she ever had in her life. He quickly hoisted her up bridal style and walked closer to the bed. Once she was placed down she licked her lips as she gazed up at Brian standing over her. She motioned with her index finger for him to come closer and still fully clothed he straddled her kissing her just as hard as she had just kissed him. Breaking the kiss quickly, Maren sat up to pull her sweatshirt off as Brian worked his jacket off. "I need more." She whispered heavily as she pulled his neck down. Their kisses were hot, wet, and desperate. 

He started to run his hands down her neck, over her shoulders, and then down to her breasts that were covered by a thin tank top. Cupping then perfectly in his hands he moaned at the fact she wasn't wearing a bra. "Mine." He  growled. 

Maren bit her lip in anticipation, she loved when he was worked up like this. For a split second she thought about what he had said earlier downstairs during their argument. By the way he was acting, like a hungry animal, maybe he was telling the truth about not being with another woman. She shook the thought from her head and concentrated on the feeling of him on her. As his massive hands traveled past her breasts, down her abdomen, and now onto her hips, she wiggled from side to side with the excitement of what was to come. 

Brian picked up on that and smirked the cocky smile that had driven her insane for years, however this time it was in a good way. "Mine." He growled again as he cupped her sex. 

"Yes." She moaned, "Fuck yes...yours." 

Even through a layer of yoga pants, he could tell she was wet. As he continued to run his fingers gently over her clothing he brought his mouth to her ear, "You remember how good it can be, don't you baby?" He whispered instantly sending shivers through her body. 

"I need you Brian." She moaned as his fingers picked up the pace. 

Brian was just as ready for her as she was for him and was done playing games. In two swift movements her pants were off and tossed to the floor. "Does my baby have something for me?" He asked, eyes darker than Maren had ever seen them. 

She quickly spread her legs and with Brian stopping for a moment she was desperate for that feeling again so that's when she began rubbing herself as she watched him pull off his clothes. He was rock hard and just seeing that was nearly enough to push Maren over into an orgasm. "God you're so hot." She moaned as her eyes started closing as she touched herself. 

Although ashamed to admit it, there were many times over these last few months he would jerk off thinking of his times in bed with her so needless to say he still remembered all her little signs when she was close to cumming and he knew she was mighty close. "Uh Uh." He scolded taking her fingers away and quickly bringing them into his mouth to taste her. "I get to do that." He smiled then quickly ducked from her vision as he snaked down her body. 

Brian took a moment to admire her. Out of all the versions of Maren there was; strict tour manager Maren, shy Maren, angry Maren, this was his all time favorite one. Laid out beneath him, naked, and most importantly wet. Once he connected his mouth to her, it was instantly like taking a drug you were once so addicted to. You get that small taste again and you are quickly under its powers again. 

"Fucking Christ Maren!" He groaned looking up at her stopping for a second. 

"What's wrong?" She asked confused on what could possibly be the matter. 

"You're just so fucking good baby." He smiled and then was back tasting her. His tongue just wouldn't stop. Brian kept licking and sucking at her center until his entire mouth was sore. He still wasn't sure who this flower guy was and if Maren was telling the truth on not being with him but he was determined to give her the best time of her life just for good measures. 

As Brian was having these thoughts racing through his mind the only thing on Maren's was how incredible this man was. She knew she was wetter than she had ever been and couldn't help but grind her pussy against his face. 

Brian glanced up and smirked at her, "You've always been a very bad girl." 

"About to get badder." She responded as she sat up and motioned for him to lay back this time. His eyes grew wider as she grabbed ahold of him. It was no secret that Brian Quinn was a huge ”ass man”. Every man had their thing and his happened to be that. She couldn't even count how many times when they were in Florida he would casually grab or spank hers. 

Brian watched as Maren straddled him but did so backwards so her ass was facing him. As she bent forward to regain her balance he gave her two hard slaps that made her fall forward again and giggle with delight. Maren took in great pride that just a few months ago she got to please this man and had full intentions right now to do it again. Sliding back a little bit she lifted up and then sank down onto his waiting member. "Fuck." They both sighed in unison once they connected. 

Taking a second to laugh at the fact the just uttered the same exact thing, Maren then got back to her task and started fucking Brian as fast as her body would allow. "Fuck Maren." Brian kept moaning repeatedly. "God baby you're so wet, so tight." 

From this angle Brian was hitting every single sensitive spot Maren had and she was loving every single second of it. Even though the storm hadn't died down, in fact it was actually getting worse, Maren could care less right now. It wasn't often Brian let a woman dominate him like this but with this woman he would welcome it again and again. He lifted his head a bit and grabbed onto Maren's ass that was currently bouncing up and down on top of him. After some quick thinking he knew something that would definitely drive her over the edge and as Maren was busy fucking him he slid one finger into her ass. It was so tight and when Maren felt him enter her that way she came almost immediately and it was hard and fast. "Brian! Brian! Oh my fuc... Brian!" She was screaming over the sounds of thunder still persisting outside. 

Between the feeling of her cumming so violently and screaming his name over and over again, it was all too much for him to take and he quickly squinted his eyes and released. "Maren baby! Maren!" He yelled through the greatest feeling he ever felt.

Brian laid his head back against the mattress fighting for breaths while Maren leaned forward with him still inside of her resting on top of his legs. Once she was able to collect herself and come down from her high, she hopped off and looked back. "Hi." She smiled innocently. 

"Oh yeah...hi" he laughed softly, "Ms. Angel over here." He joked his hand coming down to spank her one final time. 

Maren crawled up the bed and cuddled into his waiting side. The thunder made its presence known again and Brian felt her tighten up into his side, he knew she was trying to ignore it the best she could. "You know the trick with counting the storm's miles right?" He whispered in her ear. 

"Hmm..." She asked starting to feel super sleepy. 

"My grandfather taught me. Once you see lightening, count the number of seconds until you hear the thunder. Every five seconds is supposed to equal one mile the storm is away from you." He explained. 

"Really?" She asked. 

"Yup, should help you know how much longer the storm is gonna last." He said pulling her even closer. The two laid in a comfortable silence until another lightening bolt lit up the sky. "One...two...three...four." Brian counted out loud but didn't make it to five before a huge boom of thunder sounded. "Less than a mile away, which means it should be over very soon." He said kissing the top of head. 

"Thank you." She smiled leaning up to kiss his lips. 

The two began to drift off to sleep snuggled tightly. Maren heard Brian begin to snore softly and smiled, she missed this sound at night. That's when the loudest boom of thunder yet came over the London sky and Maren jumped nearly out of her skin. Brian grabbed her tightly, "It will be over soon, that one was directly over us." He said in a calming voice. 

"You must think I'm pathetic, grown woman scared of a storm." She muttered looking down embarrassed still shaking like a leaf. 

Brian immediately picked her chin up forcing her to look at him, "Only thing I find pathetic is why the two of us continue to push against what we want so badly." He responded. 

Maren's heart rate quickened again, "I agree." She replied with a smile. 

"This feeling I have inside of me to protect you isn't going away Maren...and I don't think I want it to. These last few months I've felt like this part of me is missing." He said. It was very rare for Brian to open up like this but with Maren he felt like he could say anything.

Maren's brain didn't need any time to process before she hugged him so tight and climbing on top of him again. As she brought her leg over to straddle him she kept kissing him over and over again all over his face. Once she was finished she looked deep into his eyes, "I'm sorry for running." 

He grabbed her cheeks in his hands, "We're not messing this up anymore. We have a problem we face it together. Me and you...ok?" 

"Ok." She nodded through tears rubbing her nose against his. 

It was then that Brian looked over at the table next to the TV and saw the flowers that were sent to her. "You know last time I threw out flowers that were given to you, it caused a pretty big fight...but let's just say if those stay it might cause another." He said half joking but also completely serious. 

"Consider them gone." She smiled kissing him over and over again until they both gave in to sleep.


	12. Beautiful, Crazy, She Can’t Help But Amaze Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Co written with Hopedanglesonastring

When Brian opened his eyes the next morning Maren wasn’t beside him. Sitting up he immediately noticed however that the flowers were gone and the shower was running. Breathing a sigh of relief, he made his way towards the bathroom. 

The humid warm steam and the smell of Maren’s shampoo and body wash filled the air once he turned the handle and walked in. God he had missed her. “Look who’s finally awake!” Maren’s sultry voice spoke music to his ears. 

“Well, I got quite the workout last night,” he said as he made his way into the fogged up glass shower licking his lips at the sight of her. Maren’s wet, soapy body was exactly what he wanted for breakfast. 

Noticing how hungry he looked, she gently pushed his cold body up against the wall, her lips gently grazing his, “You’re about to get another one right now.” She purred against his lips as her hands made their way down his body cupping his large, throbbing dick between her hands.

Brian let out a moan as Maren slowly lowered down to her knees wrapping her mouth over his hardness, slowly sliding her wet lips the length of him. “Fuck Mar,” he said as his hands ran through her hair, grasping it tightly every so often. The deeper she took him in her mouth, the harder it was for him to try to contain himself, “Fuck babe, you gotta stop..” his raspy voice implored between heavy breathes. 

Maren’s eyes looked up at his as she continued licking him up and down, slower now that she knew he was close. A moan slipped from her throat as her eyes rolled backwards. 

Brian couldn’t get enough of the way she dominated him when she became insatiable. It was incredibly sexy. In one fast move he lifted and spun her around quickly bending her slightly so her breasts and arms hugged the cold shower tile. Grabbing at her hips, he pulled them back towards him, his leg gently moving hers to open up wider. Running his hands slowly up her body, hands resting firmly on her still soapy breasts. “Mine,” he reminded her breathlessly against her ear before he entered her deep. The squeal and moan that escaped Maren’s lips between her breathing heavy only made Brian’s pace pick up. “God.. Maren ..” Brian moaned as he continued to fuck her hard, wrapping his fingers in her hair, pulling gently.

Maren moaned loudly, the feeling of the man she loved deep inside her and the warm water spraying their bodies was all too much. “I’m cumming babe, Fuck Bri.. baby” Maren cried out desperately grabbing his wrist with one of her hands to steady herself from the immense sensation coursing through her body from her orgasm.

Maren’s body unraveling next to his was something Brian would never tire of. Leaning over her back, he bit down gently on her shoulder as he came hard, wrapping his arms around her body hanging on to her for dear life.

They both breathed fast and hard, neither of them moving. Maren giggled deliciously, “I might become a morning person after all if you can wake me up like that every morning!” Twisting her body underneath him, she wiggled her nose against his as she kissed him gently.

_____________________________________________

Their bodies almost smacked in to each other when they heard it. Maren rushed from the bathroom and Brian from near the bed where he had just finished getting dressed.

“Someone’s at the door?!??” Maren silently screached reacting to the knock that startled them both. 

Brian nodded, looking nervous also, “Yes.. just answer it. I’ll hide in the bathroom. Go!” 

Once Maren made sure the door to the bathroom was shut she looked through the peephole and opened the door halfway when she saw Murr was at the door.

“Murr! What’s up?” Maren asked overly excited, peeking her head out the door looking to see if anyone else was with him.

Murr narrowed his eyebrows confused. “That storm last night was crazy. So I just wanted to see how you fared and see if you wanted to do some sightseeing or grab lunch?” He glanced back towards her room.

Maren quickly noticed and closed the door a little tighter, “It was but ya know, I slept like a log, just so much excitement yesterday, ya know, and I think I’m gonna pass on lunch, I have some work I need to get done!” nervously she laughed trying her best to get rid of him.

Murr nodded in agreement, “Yeah yesterday was one for the books, that’s for sure, ” he rested back on his heels and fidgeted with the phone in his hand. “Have you heard from Brian at all? No ones heard from him this morning?” Murr was typing on his phone, doing his best to avoid eye contact when he brought up Brian.

Maren contemplated telling him for a second, I mean everyone WAS rooting for them, but she wanted to be selfish and enjoy being back together with Brian without the entire world knowing just yet. “He’s probably still asleep I mean like we said, yesterday was crazy!” Maren’s scoffed before turning to head back in to her room, “See ya later Murr!” She winked and went to shut the door.

Murrs hand reached out and slammed flat against the door stopping it. His other hand held up his cell phone. Maren hadn’t noticed because she was too distracted by the sound of Brian’s cell phone ringing. Quickly she pushed the door shut knocking Murrs hand out of the way in the process, “Bye Murr!” Maren said before quickly shutting the door. “Shit” she whispered to herself as she leaned against the back side of the door, taking a deep breath.

The door to the bathroom opened and Brian walked out, “So he knows.” 

Maren nodded her head in agreement, “Most definitely.” 

Brian shrugged as he moved closer to her. He rubbed his hands up and down the length of hers as he reassured her, “Listen, it’s ok. They want what’s best for us. We can still keep it to ourselves.” he leaned forward and placed a kiss on her forehead.

Maren’s stomach turned in knots as she glanced up at his beautiful brown eyes. She inhaled a deep breathe hoping it would calm the nerves that were slowly rising up in her. 

Brian instantly picked up on her hesitation and placed his hand gently on the side of her face rubbing her cheek with his thumb. It was her Achilles heel. “I’ll talk to him.. it’s Murr, Maren. Don’t stress.” Tenderly he rubbed her lips with his thumb before kissing her softly.

Breaking away, he walked towards the bed and leaned down grabbing his phone. “How about you and me spend some time checking out London today.. just the two of us. Meet me downstairs in an hour.” He winked and smacked her on the butt. “Don’t be late,” he said planting kisses along her neck making her giggle.

“Staaawwp!!” she screached playfully trying to get away from him! “Yes! One hour,” she said pushing him away from her before she smacked his ass back as he walked out the door.  
_____________________________________________

“Hey Bud!” Murr sounded surprised to see Brian standing at the door to his room. “Come in!” standing to the side, Murr appeared nervous as Brian walked in to his room. “I texted you earlier.” 

Brian took a seat on the small sofa in the suite, “I know, that’s why I’m here.” Brian looked towards where Murr was standing. “I know you know, so I’m going to cut right to the chase. Maren is the most important thing in my life..”

Murr cut him off quickly, “More important than your friends and your career?” Murr had done his best to cast aside his frustrations the last few days, but they had quickly boiled to the surface.

Brian was a little taken aback,  
“James listen, I know the last few months were bad. I get it..”

Murr walked towards the window, “Brian, I get that you love her, but we took a hit when everything went down. I adore Maren, I do, but none of us want to deal with the two of you if something happens again. I mean either she’s our tour manager or your girlfriend, I don’t see how it’s going to work as both.” 

Brian did his best to hold his tongue before he wondered out loud, “Do the others feel this way too or is this just a Murr thing?”

Murr shook his head, “It’s just me. I’m thrilled to have Maren back, but I’m not going to lie, it makes me nervous Q.”

Brian nodded as he stood to his feet, patting his hand on Murr’s shoulder, “I’m glad you told me. I do see your point. Do me a favor, don’t tell the other guys about what you know. Let’s get through the rest of this tour, ok?”

Murr nodded in agreement, “I’m sorry man, I know you love her and I know she loves you. I won’t say anything.” He said holding up his hands.

_____________________________________________

“Alright, where are we off too Mister?” Maren asked once she placed a kiss on his lips after she got in. Brian arranged a car through the concierge and was already waiting inside. Knowing Maren would probably be nervous being in public just the two of them, he was sure to take some precautions especially after the conversation he had with Murr regarding his apprehensions. 

Despite the storm that blew through last night, it was a gorgeous day in London. 

“I was thinking.. lunch!” Brian winked at her as he pulled her body in close.


	13. The Way That She Dances, Ain't Afraid To Take Chances

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Co written with Hopedanglesonastring

"What are you doing?" Brian sighed when he looked over in the car and saw Maren typing away frantically on her phone. 

"Just sending you guys a quick text so no one is wondering where I am." She answered. 

Brian felt his phone buzz in his pocket with the incoming group text from Maren. However she was still busy typing away. Maren quickly dialed a number and then held the phone to her ear. "Now what are you doing?" Brian asked getting a tad annoyed. 

"Shh." She shushed before the person picked up. "Hi, this is Maren Mulligan calling for The Tenderloins.... Good and you?....Fantastic...I'm just calling to confirm for 5:30 sound check tonight...Excellent...and doors will be opening for 7:30?...Great and the guys' riders are set?" Maren had to hold in a laugh when the coordinator for the O2 arena asked about Sal's juicer. "If you can't find that model, it's not a big deal. If I'm being honest he's not even gonna use it." She said rolling her eyes at the fact that Sal still requested a juicer in the green room but in all the years she'd worked for him, had never seen the man use it. "Thank you. Call me with any issues that come up." Maren smiled into the phone and hung up. 

Brian looked over as Maren pulled her trusty planner out and scribbled down something. "Can Ms.Tour Manager take a break?" He grumbled. 

Maren closed her book and looked at Brian, it was evident that he was annoyed. "You guys tend to think a magic fairy waves her wand and everything is set up for you guys. Preparations start way before you take the stage ya know." She said. "I needed to touch base with the arena." Brian still had a scowl on his face so Maren quickly unbuckled her seat belt and rubbed her nose against Brian's cheek then took a playfully bite at his neck. 

Brian swatted her away with his hand but was failing miserably at hiding his smile. "Cut it out" He whined still trying to mask his smirk. 

Maren rolled her eyes then kissed his cheek sweetly, "You can't stay mad at me and you know it." She giggled.   
_______________________________  
Lunch wasn't for another couple hours so Brian decided on something else to pass the time. The driver pulled over in front of the Burlington Arcade which is a very historical shopping promenade in London that housed designer shops. Once out of the car, Brian took her by the hand leading her inside. The first stop was an antique boutique that Brian had kept hearing about. He had developed a fascination with old wrist and pocket watches so always liked to look around antique places like this. After looking around, he stumbled upon a gold pocket watch from the early 1900s that he was excited to clean up when he got home and add to his collection. 

He noticed Maren smiling at him. "What?" He asked. 

The butterflies that only Brian Quinn could give her had taken up residency again in her stomach. "You." She answered with a smile, "You're just so cute sometimes, the way these quirky little things make you so happy. I love it." 

Brian swung his arm around her as he used his other to pay for the watch. "Well I love you." He whispered against her ear as the cashier ran his card through. 

The shopping center was huge so the couple took their time walking and looking around. A certain store up ahead caught Brian's eye and he quickly lead his girl inside. At first Maren wasn't paying attention but then her eyes grew in surprise when she saw the rows of glass jewelry cases. When the pair entered Sterling Diamonds, a sales associate greeted them and asked if they needed any help. 

"Just looking for now. Thank you." Brian answered. 

Maren ran her hand over one of the cases that housed beautiful diamonds, sapphires, and emeralds. "I want you to pick something." He whispered. "Anything you want babe." 

Maren whipped her head up, "You can't be serious." She replied. 

"I'm dead serious." He said with the straightest face she had ever seen him make. 

"Brian you don't have to buy me anything, especially something so expensive. These pieces must cost..." 

"I don't care what they cost." He interrupted. "Please. You deserve to be spoiled." 

Maren was incredibly apprehensive. After all they had been back together less than 12 hours, was it really right to have him spend so much money on her? However her eyes did drift to a beautiful pair of diamond hoop earrings. The sales associate could smell a sale and was lingering around the couple. She bite her lip bobbing back and forth on her heels as she thought. Finally she looked sheepishly up at the man standing behind the counter, "Can I see these please?" She asked pointing to the earrings.  

"Lovely choice." The man replied as he unlocked the case and handed them over. 

Brian looked on as Maren slipped them into her ears and smiled, "Perfect." He said. "You like them?" He asked her. 

"I do but..." she started to say. 

"But nothing." He cut her off. "We'll take them." He said turning to the salesman. 

As they walked out of the store, Maren quickly kissed his lips. "Thank you." She smiled, "You really didn't have to." The last thing Maren wanted was for him to think he had to spend his money as a way of apologizing. 

As they kept walking another store caught Maren's eye, La Perla. The mannequins in the window were modeling the sexiest lingerie pieces. Maren smiled up at Brian and pulled him by the hand into the store. "Pick out anything, I wanna wear it for you later tonight." She smiled. "And I'm buying, don't argue." She added sternly. 

"Yes ma'am." He answered, his voice dropping to a low growl that always sent a shiver up Maren's spine. 

As they walked around the shoppe, Brian picked out a few different styles of teddys and lacy sets. However something else caught his attention to the far corner. "Seriously?" Maren asked when she saw what he was looking at. 

"Yes." He answered handing it to her, "Definitely what I wanna see you in." His eyes were getting very dark with desire, a sure sign that he was getting turned on. 

"Alright." Maren shrugged. She was a bit confused by his choice but she would play along. 

"Would you like a dressing room?" A young woman asked with a very strong British accent. 

"Please!" Maren smiled and followed. Brian followed behind as well but hung back when they reached the fitting room area. 

"You can go in with her, Sir." The woman suggested. 

Maren and Brian exchanged confused looks. The woman laughed at the perplexed looks they were sporting, "You're American aren't ya?" When they nodded their heads, she opened the changing room for Maren, "We're European, much more laid back about these kinda things. Enjoy." She winked and walked off. 

Brian got the most devilish look on his face suddenly, "This could be fun." He said practically pushing Maren inside. 

Maren giggled as quietly as possible as Brian shut the door behind them. She then noticed a security camera directly above their heads and pointed upwards, "Behave Quinn." She ordered as she pulled her shirt over her head. Brian took a seat on the velvet stool in the corner and admired the show before him. 

She had tried on all the different lacy and satin items Brian had picked and he liked all of them but was especially excited for the one she had saved for last. "I don't know about this one." She said as she untied the black corset. 

"You are gonna look smoking in this one baby." He said motioning for her to turn around so he could help tie it. Once they was done Maren stepped into the matching thong and fishnets. 

"Jesus Christ." Brian growled as he looked at his girl in a black leather corset. The tightness of it pushed her tits all the way up and the tiny black thong covered next to nothing. Brian was licking his lips. 

"You really like it that much?" She asked in disbelief. This was never a look she thought she could pull off.

"I'm so fucking turned on right now." He replied practically panting in front of her, his pants getting tighter by the second. "You look like such a bad girl." He grinned then pushed her gently against the wall and starting kissing her neck. Maren bent her head back as she enjoyed Brian's hands running over her body. 

She let out a low moan as she felt him sneak his fingers inside the thong, "God you're so sexy." He whispered against her skin.

Maren felt herself start to lose control, something that wasn't difficult around this man but one look up towards the security camera and she quickly snapped back to reality. One poor moment of judgment before and that's where all their problems started, she refused to make that same mistake again. Much to his disappointment, Maren pushed him back. "Down boy!" She laughed as he pouted at being rejected. 

She placed her hands on her hips looking at herself in the mirror, "You really like this one the best?" She questioned turning around slightly to see the back. 

"I really do but if you don't..." He started to say. 

"No!" She responded quickly, "I mean it's just different from anything I've ever worn before." 

"It's hot and I can't wait for tonight." He said. Brian couldn't help but imagine Maren on the back of his bike wearing this corset. That would obviously probably take some major convincing but that's what made this such a turn on. Maren wasn't like this for anyone but him. She had such a sweet personality and her shyness made her even more adorable so when she looked like this for him, it made her the complete and perfect woman. Just the right amount of good girl and naughty woman he couldn't resist. After helping her untie the back, he slipped out of the dressing room while she changed, another look at her gorgeous naked body and there wasn't a security camera in the world that would be able to stop him. 

Once at the register, Brian attempted to slip his card to the saleswoman but Maren was faster. "I told you no Quinn." She ordered handing the woman her own credit card instead.   
________________________________  
Lunch was low key but perfect. They shared a few things due to not being able to pick, everything just sounded so delicious. Brian had a couple beers and Maren enjoyed one martini, drinking on a work day wasn't her usually protocol but it seems like she was tossing the rule book out once again. 

"I have one more surprise before we have to head back." Brian said as he paid the bill for lunch. 

Maren quickly finished her last sip then took his hand as they went to head out. "Excuse me?" A woman's voice came from behind them. 

Brian and Maren quickly turned around to see two women smiling, "Oh my gosh!" One exclaimed, "It is you! You're Q from Impractical...!" 

Brian quickly put his finger to his lips to quiet them. The last thing he wanted was more people to notice him and then being stuck here for the next hour. "Would you ladies like a picture?" He asked softly. 

"That would be amazing, we are huge fans!" The other girl answered obviously excited. 

"Around the corner." He said pointing outside. "I'll be out in one minute." Brian kept his promise and quickly followed outside where there were less people. It was then that it truly hit Maren, she was back in Joker World. As she watched these two women snuggle in close to the man she loved trying to take a selfie, she realized this would always make her feel uncomfortable but it was easier to try and embrace it. 

She saw that the girls were struggling to take the picture so Maren just decided to help and speed up the process, "Would you like me to just take it?" She asked. 

The girls were grateful and handed over the phone quickly. Brian smiled with each girl on either side. "Greet to meet you girls. Have a good one." He said waving with a smile. 

"Thanks again for letting us steal him for a second." One of them thanked Maren. 

"No problem." She smiled. Fans like that she could deal with, the polite ones. The crazy jealous ones, they were another story.   
________________________________  
The pair walked about 15 minutes until they had reached their destination. "Here we are!" Brian called out in front of the most ginormous Ferris Wheel Maren had ever seen. 

"Please don't tell me you're putting me in that thing." She groaned. 

"Come on!" He nudged her forward, "It'll be fun!" 

Brian had called ahead this morning from his hotel room and arranged a ride up in the London Eye's Private Capsule. Instead of sharing a car with strangers, you could opt to rent out a private one. It came at a price but he wanted their first day back together to be unforgettable.

As Maren stepped on, she felt her legs begin to shake a bit. In addition to thunderstorms and unfamiliar situations, heights was another fear on her list. "Here..." Brian said handing her a glass of champagne garnished with a strawberry. "To help calm those nerves." Maren accepted the glass graciously. "Cheers." Brian smiled bringing his glass up to hers. 

As she took a sip she couldn't help but laugh. "What's so funny?" Brian asked setting his glass down. 

"You." She answered, "You just make me do all these crazy things that I never saw myself doing before." 

Brian smiled, "Life's all about having fun babe." 

"I'm beginning to see that." She said taking a bite of her strawberry. 

As the wheel started to move, Brian came in close as he saw her tense up a bit. "I'm here." He whispered against her hair grabbing her from behind. "Look at that view." He commented as they rose higher and higher into the London sky. 

They sat in a comfortable silence admiring the sights and enjoying being together once again. Finally Maren had to break the quietness, "You're doing it again." 

"Doing what?" He asked. 

"Making me fall in love with you all over again." She smiled shaking her head at how foolish she had been and how amazing he truly was.


	14. And Wears Her Heart On Her Sleeve

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Co written with Hopedanglesonastring

Both were pretty excited to get back to the hotel for another round of make up sex before having to shower and get ready to head to the arena. He still hadn't told Maren about his conversation with Murray and his reservations about them being together once again. Truthfully it was weighing heavily on him but he knew how easily Maren worried so for now he was keeping this to himself. 

Maren just finished brushing her hair as Brian emerged from the bathroom with a towel around his waist, hair wet from the shower. She smiled at him feeling very satisfied and very happy. He had truly planned the best day today. 

"I told Sal I would meet him down in the lobby for a beer before we go." Brian told her looking on as he watched her look in the mirror as she applied a little mascara. The pair had already agreed to go down separately so Maren was expecting him to head down soon anyway. 

"Well thank you for a great day." She smiled setting her makeup down and hugging him tight. "It was the best day I could have ever imagined." Her ears proudly modeled the new earrings he had purchased for her and glistened as the sun snuck through the window hitting them perfectly. 

"You are most welcome." He said wrapping his arms around her firmly leaning down for a kiss. "I just want to make you happy, you deserve it." 

Maren was feeling a bit bold and decided to give Brian a little gift of her own. Smiling up at him wickedly, she reached down and slid her panties down from under her pencil skirt. "Just think of me while you're on stage tonight and what we get to do later." She whispered against his ear as she stuck the soft fabric into his pants pocket. 

Brian responded with a low growl as she kissed down his neck, "God I fucking love when you're so bad for me."   
_______________________________  
With the craziness of the past few months, Sal hadn't had the chance to really hang out one on one with his friend all that much so grabbing a beer before the show was much needed. When Sal had asked him what he had done all day, his friend was very vague and just said he took in the city by himself. He choose not the push the issue but had a feeling Q wasn't being truthful with him. 

When they arrived at the arena, Sal was delighted to find the juicer he had requested in the green room. "Oh great! I'll make myself some juice before we go out later." 

Everyone in the room exchanged glances trying to hide their smiles. All the years of touring and Sal never kept to his word. It had become a long running joke behind Sal's back and Maren was delighted that even in her time away, not much had changed. 

Murr and Joe had already arrived and just got back from meeting some fans outside the building. "Glad you both could join us." Maren smiled busting Sal and Brian's balls on their tardiness. 

"Sorry Mar, traffic was a little crazy getting here." Sal immediately apologized. Maren smiled, yet another thing that hadn't changed, Sal forever blaming traffic on his lateness, even though no one else ever had the same problem coming from the exact same place. 

As Sal walked over to place his stuff down next to the couches, Brian took advantage of everyone being distracted and walked over to his girl who was standing by the food table making sure the guys had everything they needed. Gently he brushed his fingers over her hand that was resting on the table. "You're late." She said softly with a coy smile on her pink lips.

"I'll make it up to you later." He responded in a very low husky voice. 

"Everything okay?!" Joe called over noticing the two standing awfully close to one another. A flashback to their massive food fight months ago still fresh on his mind. 

"We're fine Joe." Brian answered a little annoyed. Maybe it wouldn't be as easy keeping it to themselves as he'd hoped.   
________________________________  
Seeing the response from the crowd still blew Maren's mind. As she watched from the side of the stage she smiled brightly watching Joe,Murr,Sal, and Brian do what they did best. A massive sigh of relief escaped her; no matter the mess up of their last tour their fans loved them and seeing everyone on their feet as the guys took the stage was pure proof of that. 

Even though she had heard this material hundreds of times, it never got old watching them. She still laughed at every story they told like it was the first time. 

Brian looked to his left and noticed Maren watching from behind the curtain. Joe and Murray were in the middle of a story and Sal was distracted by it momentarily so Brian saw the perfect opportunity to make his girl blush a bit. Sticking his hand in his pocket he poked a piece of fabric from inside out discreetly getting Maren's attention with it. Out of the corner of his eye he could see her bite her lower lip so he turned very quickly to look at her and send her a wink. He then heard the end of Joe's bit and knew it was his time to interject so quickly directed his attention back to the other three men on stage. 

Maren shifted on her heels as she watched Brian remove the mic from its stand and start to speak. God she was dying for this show to be over and get back to her room with him. Just standing there, he was turning her on.   
________________________________  
After squaring everything with the arena, Maren grabbed her things and got her own cab back to the hotel. Halfway through the show she went back stage to get on the phone with the travel agency to confirm times for their flight to Dublin. Their time in London was over and it was on to the next city but now Maren knew London would always have a special place in her heart. 

She felt her phone vibrate and looked down as the the cab navigated the dark rainy streets of London. 

Brian: And where'd you take off to? 

Maren: Back to the hotel. Figured I would see you back there later.

Brian: You're not grabbing a bite to eat with us? 

Maren:Have time with your friends. Just don't keep me waiting for long ;) 

Brian: Don't start! I'm sitting next to Joe, no need to put any thoughts in my head and give me a raging hard on right now. See you soon babe. 

Maren giggled at the text just picturing him moving from side to side trying to contain an erection. She loved that she had that effect on him.   
________________________________  
After some local pub food and a couple pints of beer, Brian as well as the other Jokers were ready to call it a night and shared a cab back to the hotel. Brian quickly texted Maren saying he would be back very soon and better be ready for him because he most certainly was ready for her. 

He had to remind himself to head to his room first so the others wouldn't be suspicious. Murray had seemed to have kept his word and not said anything to the others but that didn't stop the looks he kept getting throughout the evening. It was clear this was still worrying him and honestly could Brian truly blame him? 

After making a quick pit stop into his room and making sure his friends were in their own rooms, he slipped out and headed right back to the set of elevators at the end of the hall. 

Maren had already given Brian her 2nd keycard to her room so once he arrived he quickly let himself in and was greeted with the most mouth watering sight he could imagine. 

"I told you not to keep me waiting too long." A velvety voice called out from the bed. Sitting on the bed with her legs crossed was his girl in the black leather corset he so desperately wanted her to buy. 

"Christ almighty." Brian said breathlessly. He took a minute to look her up and down and saw nothing but total perfection. "You look fucking sexy baby." 

"Shhh..." Maren hushed placing her finger over his lips. "Sit down." She ordered motioning to the bed. 

Brian quickly followed her command and took a seat smiling when he saw her sink to her knees in front of him. "Pants off Quinn." She added. 

"Yes ma'am!" He grinned quickly getting rid of his clothes. 

"Mmm..." she smiled as she took hold of him licking her lips. 

The way she looked right now, Brian knew he wanted to remember forever. She was dressed super sexy, her beautiful tits pushed up high in this corset, she had put on a little bit darker makeup, and her hair was pulled back. However the look in her eyes was still the sweet shy woman he fell in love with. But deep down he knew their was a sexy bad girl behind those eyes. "Oh yeah." Brian moaned putting his head back feeling himself in her wet mouth. "Fuck yeah, just like that baby." 

"You like that?" She asked taking a second to breathe then went right back to work. 

"Oh yeah...my sweet girl sucks me off so good." Brian answered closing his eyes enjoying everything she was doing to him. 

Maren very gently bite down a little and felt him flinch and let out an even bigger moan mixed with a chuckle. "You being my fresh girl tonight?" Brian asked. 

"Not me." She smiled up at him innocently then took him even deeper. 

"Ah shit." Brian cried out. "Baby stop real quick." He said not wanting this to end so fast. 

However Maren wasn't listening and continued sucking him as fast and as hard as she could. Brian was now moaning louder than before as he felt everything she was doing to his cock. "Baby baby!" He continued with his eyes shut tight running his fingers through her hair. Pulling her hair only antagonized her more and she gladly allowed him to push her head down into his him further. "Maren! Oh Maren! I'm gonna cum...fuck baby...fuck!" Brian couldn't hold back anymore and with Maren's lips still wrapped around him he came hard. 

Maren was taking no prisoners and accepted everything her man was giving her and was getting turned on doing it. She glanced up through her eyelashes and saw Brian with his head bent back as he finished spilling into her. "Uhh what the fuck..." he muttered. 

Maren quickly grabbed a tissue on the nightstand to catch a little dribble down her chin and that's when Brian locked eyes with her. "Oh baby, you have no idea what you just did." He laughed pouncing on the floor pinning her underneath him. "My turn!" He growled as he began his descent down her body right there on the hotel carpet. He had one goal on the brain right now; make her scream out his name all night.The


	15. Yeah She’s Crazy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Co written with Hopedanglesonastring

It was like slow motion. Her soft body straddling his, hands wrapped delicately around his neck. Up and down she moved, deliberately and carefully, but with reckless abandon that made fucking her so addicting to him. Slowly then quickly she'd go deep, head rolling back in ecstasy. Brian looked up and admired every inch of how beautiful she was. How every curve on her body held a secret he couldn't wait to uncover.  "I love you Brian Quinn.." Maren moaned sweetly and shly, before quickly bringing her hand forward and slapping him across the face, "Don't ever fucking hurt me again" violently she screamed.

Brian's eyes flung open, sweat beading on his brow. Looking around the room while  he caught his breathe he saw it was 3am and realized he was in Maren's room. Quietly she slept next to him, cradled against his body, head resting right under his chin. 

Brian's body was completely intertwined with hers. His arms wrapped gently around her stomach, holding her close. He squeezed her tightly for a moment and breathed deeply.  Using his other arm that was laying above his head, he gently played with her hair,  lifting a few pieces and watching them slowly fall. 

As hard as he fought, his conversation with Murray was winning the war in his head. Maren was finally back in his arms. It was his goal for months. As right as it felt, he couldn't deny it wasn't what he was expecting. Every day he wonders if today she runs again. Every day he wonders if flower guy is gonna rear his head again. It's not just the two of them, and it's hard to remember that when the two of them are around each other. Brian stopped playing with Maren's hair, bringing his now free hand to his forehead and rubbing it gently. When he closed his eyes, the incident from earlier tonight flashed before him.

 

7 hours earlier

There were several reasons why the guys no longer did Meet n Greets, however it mostly had to do with the guys popularity rising. Fans become a little more obsessed. Questions asked are more invasive and even personal items of the guys have been stolen. While all four of them absolutely adored their fans, it only takes a few to ruin it for everyone and it became clear to everyone that Meet n Greets had to end. 

Even though they were in Europe and their fans were always a class act, Brian still slightly dreaded the few they had to do since all the drama  
that had  happened. Comments on Twitter, Reddit and Facebook didn't go unnoticed by him, and one of his biggest issues with Maren's photos was how he'd be able to control himself hearing someone disrespect the woman he loves. 

Brian and the rest of the guys made it extremely clear to security that anything negative brought up about Maren Mulligan by any backstage crew, arena crew, visitors or meet n greet guests, would result in immediate removal from the premises. Luckily it hadn't needed to be enforced heading into Meet n Greet number four. 

Maren would pop in and out of the room where the autograph line was set up. Fans would be able to walk alongside the table and have a photo signed by each guy, and take selfies with them if they chose.  Brian glanced at Maren a few times and smiled to himself, quickly looking away before why or the guys noticed. Everything was going well, until the last two guys of the night. They appeared to be in their early 20s. Both had popped the collars of their polo shirts  and pleated khaki pants. When one of them got to Sal, he reached in his back pocket pulling out a T-shirt with Sal's "Ugly meme photo" printed on the front and putting it on quickly over his polo.  It was a cheesy move, and Sal had stop himself hard from rolling his eyes, instead he just plastered on a fake smile, nodded slightly towards the guy and signed the photo.   
All the while his friend laughed finding the whole thing hilarious. Security had inched closer to the table ever since the first kid quickly threw on the shirt, not leaving anything to chance.  
Brian wanted nothing to do with these clowns so quickly he scratched his autograph on the 8x10 and handed it over to them. Once he looked up, both of the guys gave a little nod to Brian and a small thumbs up, before laughing again and leaving the table. 

"Douches" Sal muttered under his breathe as he and a Brian both stood up. As if they wanted to be heard, both guys looked around the room and said loud enough to be heard, "Damn I wanted to meet her, I stare at her naked ass long enough."

Brian's body clenched up tightly as his hand immediately rubbed at the back of his neck. Sal quickly walked up to his buddy, ushering him out of the room. "Come on man.. walk it off, let it go."  
Brian clenched his teeth and nodded at Sal. Turning to leave the room, Terry the head of their security team approached Sal and Brian. Thankfully Murr and Joe had left already, Brian didn't want Murr to get any more concerned. 

"Boss you want me to remove them?" Terry said motioning to the two guys who hadn't left yet, currently huddled down looking at a cell phone. 

Sal looked over at Brian, "Yeah man.. on the sole account of that horrendous shirt bullshit they pulled also!" Sal rolled his eyes as he shook his head. He threw that part in cause he knew Brian would ultimately feel a little guilty throwing paying fans out of a show. Sal wanted to make sure Brian knew it was ok, these guys were dicks and that the other 3 best friends of his really did support him.

"Thanks Terry," Brian nodded as he walked out of the room with Sal.  His nerves calmed a little when he placed his hands in his pockets and found Maren's panties that he forgot were there.  
_____________________________________________

"What's wrong baby?" a sleepy Maren asked pulling  Brian back to the moment and away from the flashback.  He shook his head slightly, erasing the thoughts he was having and squeezed her tight.

"Nothing," he whispered in her ear as he kissed her head sweetly. "Go back to sleep."

"Brian.. you're wide awake. I know something is wrong babe." she yawned, but she didn't turn around to face him. Exhaustion and sleepyness was too strong for her to fight.

Brian closed his eyes panicking. So he lied,  "My stomach is just upset, probably something I ate earlier. Everything's ok babe, go back to sleep."

"K" Maren's small voice said before she drifted off to sleep.

It was the first time Brian Quinn lied to the woman he thought he lost forever. Or maybe he didn't, since now his stomach definitely was upset.  
_____________________________________________

Maren glanced over towards Brian who was seated two rows in front of her next to Joe in the van as they road from the airport and made their way to their hotel in Ireland. 

She wasn't sure if it was just him trying to convince the others that nothing was going on between them, but Brian seemed to be keeping his distance from her today.  He didn't sneak any texts and she was pretty sure he didn't look in her direction once today.  It left her very confused.  He left quickly from her room this morning, but they all had to make an early flight.

She shook it off as she pulled out her tablet to check her email, but just as she did the van pulled up to their hotel so she put her tablet back in her bag.   
"Ok guys, sound check tonight is at 5pm. Meet in the lobby at 4:20 to head to the venue please, thanks!" Maren said groggily as they all filtered out. 

Joe hung back with Maren as she finalized the details with the driver and confirmed his arrival back at the hotel later in the day. Grabbing her bags she headed towards the front desk with Joe in tow.

Before she reached the  front desk, Joe spoke up, "Hey, I need to talk to you for a second" he said but Maren continued walking exhausted, until someone stepped out in front of her. She glanced back at Joe, who had a guilty look on his face. Turning her attention back to the guy in front of her she went to speak before he cut her off, "Maren Mulligan, Hi. I'm David Easterly. I've been sent on behalf of TruTv." he said as he stuck his hand out for her to shake. Maren was completely confused as she turned back to Joe, "What is going on?" She asked becoming increasingly agitated.


	16. But Her Crazy’s Beautiful To Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Co written with Hopedanglesonastring

"Did you say you were from the network?" Joe immediately interrupted overhearing this guy talking to Maren. 

"Yes sir that's right." The man answered sticking his hand out to shake Joe's. "David Easterly. Nice to officially meet you." 

Joe shook his hand but was still very confused. He saw the three others start to make their ways over to them. "And why are you here exactly?" Joe asked. 

David looked around with an unsettling expression on his face, "Perhaps we should talk somewhere a little more privately."   
________________________________  
The Jokers were able to get access to an empty conference room the hotel had downstairs and were led there by the hotel manager. "Is there anything else I can get for you laddies...and lassie?" The manager asked in his thick Irish accent. 

"I think we're set for now." Maren chimed in, "Thank you so much for letting us use this space on such short notice." 

"Of course." He smiled kindly then left the group of Americans to their business. 

David Easterly cleared his throat before speaking, "I'm just gonna cut to the chase. Tru got word that Ms. Mulligan would be running this tour and due to past events have become quite uneasy about it." 

"Excuse me?!" Maren immediately exclaimed. Brian had also sprang from his seat with a pissed off look on his face. 

"I understand this is a delicate situation but the network can not have anymore mishaps." David continued. 

"So you're here to what...play babysitter?!" Brian interrupted. 

"I'm just here to make sure things go as planned." David interjected. "This tour needs to go smoothly." 

"And I have been tour manager for these guys for close to three years...it always does!" Maren argued. "With all due respect, I don't need someone looking over my shoulder." 

"And with all due respect, TruTv thinks differently." David responded, this time with a nasty spin to his voice. 

Joe sensed the tension in the room and stepped in quickly, "Maren isn't an employee of TruTv though. She is a private employee of ours, just like our attorney or our agent. She has nothing to do with the network." 

"But you all are. And because of poor choices in the past, it was damaging to your image and therefore the image of the network." David responded back. 

"Damaging?!" Brian shouted, "We are selling out every venue every night. Doesn't sound damaged to me!" 

"Q..." Murray interrupted in a warning tone sensing his friend's temper rising. 

"No!" Brian yelled holding his hand up to silence Murray. "My personal life and events that have happened is none of Tru's damn business! And I don't need some little fucking spy poking around making sure I'm acting appropriately. I'm forty fucking three years old!" 

"Brian enough!" Sal said standing up placing his hand on his friend's shoulder. 

"Listen....What was your name again?" Sal asked. 

"David." He responded. 

"Listen David, we hired Maren back because she knows us in and out..." Sal began. 

"She certainly knows at least one of you in and out." David responded shooting a snobby look Maren's way. 

Maren couldn't believe her ears, "You disrespectful piece of garbage!" She snapped. 

Sal felt Brian tense up next to him and knew at any moment, no one in this room was going to be able to hold him back from killing this guy. "Comments like that are uncalled for. Maren is our tour manager, point blank." Sal stated coldly. "If the network has a problem with it, they should contact us directly but she's not going anywhere." 

Maren took a second to look to Sal with gratitude and love in her eyes. No matter the mess she may have brought to these guys, they would always have her back. 

"Look, they are not asking for her to be fired, they just want a representative here to keep an eye on operations." David added. 

Maren was getting pretty annoyed at being talked about like she wasn't in the goddamn room so she decided to not be anymore. "Guys I'm gonna go get settled before we have to leave for the show. I'll text you in a bit when we have to be out front. David..." She said addressing him directly, "Looks like I'll be seeing you around." She said rolling her eyes as she shut the door behind her. 

"Mr.Quinn." David called out to a furious looking Brian leaning against the back wall of the room. "This isn't anything personal, it's just  we need to protect the good of the show and the network." 

"My personal life is not for the network to keep an eye on." He snapped. 

"Unfortunately you are a brand and that brand is property of TruTv." David countered. 

Brian pushed off against the wall and walked closer to David. "And it's because of our hard work and our brand that TruTv is even successful. You know it. I know it. And they know it." Making his way to the door he turned his head looking back one more time. "Just make sure to stay out of our way and let us do what we do." He added slamming the door loudly behind him.   
________________________________  
Brian took a little walk outside by the empty pool area to calm down before walking back through the lobby to get to the elevator. While making his way past the front desk he spotted Murray on one of couches on the phone. His anger started to rise and he rushed over across the marble lobby floor towards his friend of almost 30 years. 

Grabbing the phone out his hand he quickly ended the call. "Q!" Murray exclaimed annoyed at his rudeness. 

"You'll call em back." Brian said. "You say anything to them about Maren and I?" He demanded. 

"Who Joe and Sal?" Murray questioned. 

"No people from the network." Brian barked. 

"Q I haven't said anything to anyone but especially anyone from Tru!" Murray defended now insulted at these accusations. "Why would I do that?! You're my best friend, I would never talk about you behind your back...seriously?!" 

Q saw the look of hurt in his friend's eyes and knew he was completely overreacting and over the line. He let out a deep sigh, "Im sorry bud, I know you wouldn't do that." Brian then dropped down into a nearby chair putting his head in his hands. "When did all this shit get so complicated? I just wanna have a normal fucking relationship with a woman for Christ sakes."

Murray then took the chair next to his friend seeing the defeat in his face. "Can I ask you something?" Murray asked. Brian nodded running his hands through his hair. "And don't get mad?" Brian let out a sarcastic snort, he was already mad at this point. What was the difference? "Buddy I've seen you over the past few months. Anytime the subject of those pictures come up, your fists ball up and you get this sick look on your face like you're either gonna punch something or throw up."

"What's your point Murray?" Brian snapped wanting his friend to get to it. 

"My point is do you think you will ever be able to completely be okay with there being pictures of her out there for anyone to look up whenever they want?" Murray finished. 

"I'm really trying to be." Brian sighed then got up and continued his treck to the elevator.

"Q?!" Murray called after him. "You know I'm not gonna say anything until you want me to, right?" He said when Brian turned around. 

Brian responded with a sad smile, "I know buddy, thank you."   
______________________________  
"And you swear you had no idea?" Maren asked Kelsey again for the 3rd time since she had called her best friend. 

"Honestly, no one said a word to me. I think that's pretty messed up they are treating you like children that need to be supervised." Kelsey stressed. 

Maren suddenly heard a knock at the door. "Kels I gotta go somewhere's at the door." She said. 

"Call me later please." Kelsey said. 

"I will. Love you." She responded. 

"Love you back." Kelsey smiled. 

Maren tossed her phone to the mattress and opened her door. "Hey." She smiled shyly seeing Brian. 

"Can I come in?" He asked shifted from foot to foot in the hall. 

"Of course." She said stepping back to let him in. After shutting the door behind him, Maren felt the darkness of her man's mood. She was already feeling a distance from him all day while traveling and now with this guy showing up she was feeling it even more. He hadn't even hugged or kissed her yet. "Talk to me." Maren begged sadly sitting down on the bed next to him.

Brian stared down at his hands in total silence. Where was he even going to begin?


	17. She’s Unpredictable

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Co written with Hopedanglesonastring

One Year Ago 

Maren looked at him with confusion in her eyes. Out of the 4 of them, Brian never visited her room. Seeing as how they weren’t exactly fond of each other, whatever they said usually was conveyed while everyone was together or via a text or email. They didn’t really have a reason to WANT to see each other more than they had too. Things only gotten worse between the two even though it’s been a year since Marens been their manager. Everyone was hoping the two of them would get over themselves by now, but they still had daily snippy exchanges.

It was 8am and the knock on the door woke her up. It took her a few minutes to even open the door and invite him in, nervous that this couldn’t possibly be anything good since it was so early.

“What’s up Brian?” she managed to ask through a yawn as she tugged tighter on her bathrobe.

“Woke you up. Sorry. Didn’t think about that.” Brian apologetically glanced down at his coffee cup and held it up towards her. “Want my coffee?”

Maren smiled at his generous offer hopeful that he wasn’t about to turn into an asshole, “I’m good, thank you though.”

Brian nodded, “I just got a call from my agent. I was offered a small part in Twelve Monkeys, the Sci-Fi network show,” he paused, turning his head slightly waiting for Maren to say something.

Maren furrowed her eyebrows at him, “Ok... congrats? What does this have to do with why you’re standing in my room at 8am in the morning?” 

Brian’s ego was slightly hurt that she didn’t share in his excitement, “I was getting to that,” he pointed as he turned on that Q charm of his, “Turns out the days they need me to film overlap with some of the proposed tour dates you’ve given us.”

Before Maren could control it, she let out a groan of frustration before she clapped her hands together, “ I KNEW it. I KNEW it wasn’t good news when YOU show up at my door at 8am.” Maren shouldn’t be talking to her boss this way but she was over Brian’s bullshit and this was just icing on the cake. Coming up with a tour date schedule was no easy feat considering she handled all four of the guys schedules and calendars and all were extremely busy outside of The Tenderloin and Impractical Jokers. They were very close to finalizing the dates after several revisions already. Now this.

Already hurt because Maren didn’t respond to his latest rise to fame the way one of his groupies would, her hissy fit just now didn’t exactly sit well with him. “Hey at least I told you at all right?! I mean, I’m such an asshole I could have just let you find out from one of the other guys, or twitter or something right?! Here I thought I was doing the right thing, going to the person who handles our scheduling with, hmm a SCHEDULING ISSUE,” his voice clearly conveyed his displeasure at how she was acting. “Sorry you have to do your JOB Maren,” he barked glaring at her disapprovingly when he walked past her and out the door.

Maren shook her head in disgust. Grabbing a pillow off the bed, she screamed into it, “FUCK!”   
_____________________________________________

“I heard. I just got off the phone with Maren also. I knew nothing about this.” Kelsey’s voice assured Sal and Joe who had her on speakerphone in Joe’s room.

“I mean we’ve had four shows already Kel and everything’s been fine.. why are they concerned all of a sudden?” Joe questioned. He didn’t see the look on Sal’s face but he heard him let out a slight moan. 

“I’m looking into it Joe. I want to confirm he is with the network. I will get back to you as soon as I get some more info. Hang tight.” Kelsey assured him, however Joes eyes were now fixated on Sal.

“Thanks Kel.” Joe’s eyes still hadn’t left Sal as he hung up his phone. 

Sal by this time was now pacing the room, overcome with nerves. “Fuck this man. This is so fucked.” 

“Please tell me he didn’t punch anyone.” Joe spoke up, trying to use humor to get Sal to calm down.

“It was fucked Joey. It was those two preppy kids from the show the other night. He had the Fat Sal shirt. He completely disrespected Maren in front of Brian. Terry asked if we wanted him removed. I spoke up and I said yes. I told Terry. We were all in agreement, if Maren was mentioned, they were gone. Now this!” Sal was angry at this point. He was tired of seeing Brian hurt and angry, all because he was in love.

Joe sighed, “You did the right thing man, we all agreed, I would have made the same call. Calm down. We’ll get this figured out.” Walking over to Sal, he patted him on the back. “I gotta go talk to Maren actually.” he said as he grabbed his room key.

Sal and Joe headed towards the door as someone knocked on it. Murray let out a small sigh as he saw his two best friends standing there once the door swung open. “I need to talk to you guys.” 

Joes shoulders lowered in defeat, “You too now? We’ve only been on tour 3 days, what the fuck?”  
____________________________________________

 

“Are you breaking up with me?” Maren could no longer ignore the small voice in her head screaming this question over and over.

Brian was quiet but quickly answered, “No baby, I’m not” as he lifted his arm quickly pulling her body snuggling close to his. He kissed her forehead and rubbed her back. “I love you,” he reminded her.

Marens body relaxed into his allowing her breathing to slow but she knew the man sitting next to her wasn’t done. There was more to it. “Tell me what you’re thinking. What’s going on? Did Murray say something to the Network?”

Brian shook his head and kissed her forehead one more time. Standing up, he pulled up a chair in front of where Maren was sitting on the bed and grabbed both of her hands in his. “Murray didn’t say anything to the Network. Sal and I had two guys removed at last nights show. I don’t know if it’s connected but they probably said something on social media and the network saw. “

Maren wasn’t following, “Wait, what happened, how come I wasn’t told?” 

Brian looked down at both of their hands and took a deep breath. “It was about the pictures.”

Marens body instantly tensed up again. Everything was going so well, she knew it was all too good to be true. While Maren was aware the two really hadn’t talked yet, she was hoping that they wouldn’t have too. That them being back together was enough. But love is never just enough. That she knew all too well.

Brian squeezed her hands tenderly when she tried to wiggle them free. He sensed Marens mood changing and feared she would run. “Don’t run. Please, don’t run,” he begged quietly as he leaned over her knees, wrapping his arms around her waist as he laid his head in her lap. 

Maren let out a small cry as tears fell down her face. She ran her fingers through his hair which cause him to squeeze his arms around her waist tighter. “I can’t turn back time Bri, if I could I would. I’d never have taken them.” Maren was now crying a little harder frustrated that their love was so complicated.

Brian lifted his head and began to gently wipe the tears from Marens face. Gently he kissed her nose, “Shh. I know. I know. But listen to me. It’s hard as a man to not protect the people I love. I’ve never had anyone attack the people I love, until now. They have the fuel which is those pictures. I mean where there’s fuel there’s fire and I’m sure you’ve heard I used to be a firefighter so naturally I want to put it out ” he winked cheekily trying to lighten the mood in the room with the analogy. Maren rolled her eyes but smiled. Brian winked and continued, “It’s new territory. I don’t know how to handle it. I’m trying and all of the guys are in agreement that no one is to disrespect you in front of us. Which is why I was all the more pissed with this Easterly guy.”

“Thank you,” she began smiling gently at Brian who was staring at her unsure of what she was about to say, “for telling me this was bothering you. This is new territory for the both of us I guess. Babe, if you don’t mind, I think I wanna go for a run. I need some fresh air. “ Maren said wiping her face as she stood up and leaned in to kiss Brian gently on the lips before grabbing her running clothes.

Brian nodded and playfully smacked her butt. “Text me when you get back.” Kissing her gently on the neck she moaned at the feeling. “I want this later,” he said playfully cupping his hands between her legs and squeezing.

Maren quickly swatted him away, “ Hey hey! No!! Not since Mr. Easterly is now watching our every move!! Hands off Quinn!” Maren jokingly shook her finger no in his face. 

Brian playfully tried biting at the finger, “Yeah, we’ll see about that,” he winked and grabbed for the hotel room door. Turning the handle, Brian stopped dead in his tracks at the sight of Joe, the last person he expected to see standing in the doorway


	18. Unforgettable

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Co written with Hopedanglesonastring

"Can't say I'm surprised seeing you here." Joe said shaking his head. 

"Hey Joey." Brian greeted his voice cracking a bit. "Maren seemed pretty upset, just wanted to check on her." He started to explain but it was too late. While on the other side of the door in the hall, Joe heard a small giggle from Maren. 

It wasn't often that Joe Gatto really got upset over things but he had just about enough. Walking into the hotel room without being invited in he let the door go resulting in a loud thud causing Maren to jump a bit. "I've had it, you two. After all I've done for BOTH of you and you have the audacity to lie to my face. You both have some balls." 

Maren and Brian exchanged concerned looks over how upset Joe was getting. They both knew they needed to drop the charade for the sake of their friendships with Joe. He was right, he was always in their corners. "Murray told you I assume." Brian said in a low voice looking down at the swirl design of the carpet. 

"Murray?" Joe questioned, "He hasn't said a word. I saw him earlier and he just mentioned how this David guy is giving him a weird feeling. He's getting in touch with some contacts from Northsouth to get more info on this guy. Wait...Murray knows about you two?" 

"He kinda stopped by my room in London and put two and two together." Maren spoke up.

"Don't be mad at him though, I asked him not to say anything." Brian said immediately. 

"How long have you been back together?" Joe asked. 

"Just a couple days." Maren quickly said hoping Joe wouldn't be too upset over them keeping it a secret. 

"I'm not gonna lie, I'm a little hurt guys." Joe admitted, "I've had your backs since all this shit went down. Christ Maren I even went down to Florida to get you back." Joe added pacing the room out of frustration. 

"Joe I know...it's just after all the stuff that's come out in the media and now with the network being upset, we didn't want to bring anymore stress to you all. Clearly us being together is a bad idea in everyone's eyes." Maren tried to explain. 

Joe stopped pacing and looked at his friends, "You really think I care what the media thinks or what the network thinks?! All I want is for my friends to be happy. Now whether that's together or apart...that's for you to decide." 

Brian walked closer to Maren pulling her into his side. "I'm better when I'm with her Joe. I don't want to be without her anymore." 

Joe tried to fight his smile but it was no use, these two fit together better than any couple he'd ever seen. She had this calming effect on him and he brought out the fun side she had seemed to forget existed. She was the rules but he was the reminder to let loose and enjoy some of the perks of who he was. Everyone saw it so long ago, except them. 

1 year ago

"You guys didn't tell me about this." Maren whispered to three of the four Jokers. Sal was away taking a quick phone call so the others were taking advantage of Sal's spur of the moment punishment. 

They were on their way to a show in DC but a corn field they passed the day prior in Pennsylvania caught Brian's eye from the bus. That's when he suggested getting in contact with the crew and seeing if they could set up a haunted maze as a punishment for Sal. It took some quick work but Joe was able to get the crew to scrabble from New York and get everything into play. 

Now Maren was freaking out about getting this filmed in time so they could still get to their DC show on time. "Last minute Mulls, Sorry. But come on we can't let an opportunity like this pass us by." Joe laughed. 

"Lighten up Maren, we are right on schedule." Q said rolling his eyes at his uptight tour manager. 

Maren chose to ignore the comment from Brian's moron mouth and go call Cha who had driven all the way to Pennsylvania at her bosses' request. Hopefully she could convince Cha to stay on schedule.   
________________________________  
The punishment was going perfectly. Sal was so confused when their tour bus pulled over and he saw members of the IJ crew waiting in front of a corn field. There was a creepy little girl, a guy in a scarecrow costume, cow shit he had to walk through, and little boxing gloves that kept hitting him in the head. But best of all was the black cat costume everyone loved to torture him with.

As the guys were filming Maren kept looking over and couldn't understand why she couldn't shake the feeling of finding Brian so goddamn attractive. His hair was getting longer as of late and usually that was not something that Maren went for but man was he looking good lately. His attitude she could certainly live without but she didn't mind looking at him. Anytime he happened to glance in her direction though she made sure to quickly turn her attention back to the monitor she was watching. That was the last thing Brian Quinn's ego needed. 

About 15 feet away, Brian was admiring from a distance as well. It wasn't often you saw Maren lose it with laughter. She had a sense of humor but actually seeing her barreled over in hysterics was not all that common. He knew he had multiple cameras on him at the moment but he just couldn't help look over at her and smile to himself at how gorgeous she was. Maren had that beauty that didn't come from makeup or perfectly styled hair. She was beautiful because she just was. The woman drove him insane most days and always seemed to be on his case but he could still check her out. However anytime his thoughts drifted to what he could do to her in the bedroom, he immediately shut them down. This was Maren that would never in a million years happen. 

Meanwhile as the two continued to look at one another without the other seeing, they weren't as discreet as they thought. Murray softly kicked Joe's sneaker with his. When Joe looked at him Murray nodded over to Q who was busy at the moment staring at Maren. Joe shook his head in a little annoyance. "Yeah they do this all the time." He whispered knowing Q wasn't even remotely listening. 

After the punishment finally wrapped and Sal made his way out of the corn field vowing revenge on his friends and anyone else who was apart of it, Brian saw Maren walking back to the bus that was parked on the other side of the field. He smiled wickedly deciding to have a little fun. Quickly ripping his mic off and placing it down on the table he ran inside the field following the path that ran along the edge of it. Peaking out behind a stalk of corn he saw her approaching and when the time was right he reached his hand out grabbing her arm, "Maren!!" He shouted. 

"Jesus fucking Christ!" Maren screamed in surprise grabbing her chest. When she saw Brian bent back laughing so hard tears where pooling out of his eyes she pushed him back with all her might. "Asshole!" She yelled but couldn't help laugh herself. "Trying to give me a heart attack, don't do that!" She scolded but had a playfully demeanor as she slapped his arm. 

"You should have seen your face!" He laughed still wiping the tears from his face. 

Cha and Sal were witnessing the whole playful exchange between the two. "Why do they fight so much!" Cha said more so thinking out loud to herself. 

"I have no clue, I mean it's so damn obvious they have a thing for each other." Sal sighed then made his way back to the bus happy this punishment was now behind him. 

As they walked together back to the bus, Maren keeping an eye on Brian making sure he wasn't gonna pull anything else, she let out numerous sneezes. "Jesus, you alright?" Brian finally asked after the 10th sneeze. 

"Yeah, I'm allergic to hay. Just starting to get to me a little bit. I'll be fine." She answered. Brian saw how red and puffy her eyes were getting and how stuffed up she was starting to sound. 

The IJ crew were staying behind to pack up and head back to New York while the Jokers and Maren got back on the bus....everyone but Brian that was. He was nowhere to be found. Maren groaned in frustration as she got her phone to try and track him down. "Where the hell did he go now?" She asked the three other Jokers. She swore sometimes she felt more like a babysitter than a tour manager. 

Before the phone reached the second ring she heard the bus door open and saw Brian board. She was about to open her mouth and question his whereabouts when he handed her a plastic shopping bag. Inside the bag was a couple boxes of tissues and different packages of allergy medicine. Without a word he walked by climbing up into his bunk hoping to get a nap in before they reached DC. Maren smiled as he walked by a little shocked at the kind gesture. Why couldn't he be this guy all the time?   
________________________________  
Present Day

Joe stood before his friends, his negative feelings towards them slowly softening. "I guess I can understand why you wanted to keep this from everyone. This tour needs to go well, no slip ups, no fights. Our reputation over here is relying on this being a success." Joe stated. 

"I'll make sure it does Joe. I promise." Maren responded. 

"You know we have your backs in all this." Joe said. "I don't know what the network is trying to pull or who this guy is but at the end of the day, we want the two of you happy." 

Maren leaned into Brian, almost needing to feel him for a moment, tucking her head up and underneath his chin. She smiled when she felt him pull his arm around her placing a kiss to the top of her head. 

Maren wasn't the only one smiling; Joe looked on witnessing the first display of affection he had ever seen from these two. "You both just fit, about time you finally realized it." He peacefully sighed feeling the calming effect they had on one another. "I'm gonna try to call Bes and the kids, I'll see you both in a little bit." As he turned to walk away he looked back, "Just please no more secrets guys." He pleaded. 

"You got our word Joe." Brian stepped in answering for both of them, "Besides cat's outta the bag at this point." He laughed. 

When Joe exited the room, Brian pulled Maren in again cupping her face. "I love you" He whispered against her lips before placing a soft kiss to them. "We got this baby." 

As the continued to exchange soft kisses, Brian kept telling himself to let these pictures go. As much as it bothered him, he knew being without her was out of the question.


	19. It’s Unusual

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Co written with Hopedanglesonastring

As Brian peppered her face with kisses, Maren was was brimming with a bit of pride in Brian and a huge wave of relief. It started out with fear he was going to leave her when he first knocked on the door to declaring his love for her in front of Joe, and knowing the other 3 guys have their backs. Maren would never tire of hearing him say he loved her, but hearing him tell Joe, his oldest friend was a whole other level for Maren. It was also a major turn on.

“Take off your clothes,” Maren demanded in between slowly beginning to suck hard at his lips.  
Brian pulled away, cocking up his eye brow with a questioning look.

Maren smiled devilishly and said it again, a little louder, and much slower dripping with seduction. “Take. Your. Clothes. Off.” 

Brian instantly became aroused and wasted no time hoisting Maren up by her waist. Legs wrapped around his waist, arms wrapped around his neck, Brian carried her quickly towards the bed as Maren kissed him as if her life depended on it. A low growl escaped his lips as she kissed him deeply in his mouth. 

Brian forcefully threw her backwards on to the bed and grabbed for her pants. Maren giggled in delight. Everything seemed to be falling into place and even though the network had their doubts she didn’t, and it seemed Brian no longer did either. 

Once Brian got her naked, he leaned over and began slowly crawling up and over her body. Maren quivered slightly as he placed gentle sweet kisses along her stomach all the way up over her breasts ending up at her neck, gently sucking on it. Breathless moans escaped from Marens lips as she ran her hands around Brian’s thick biceps. It was one of her favorite parts of his body. Not just because they were sexy, but because they provided much needed security that Maren had given up on finding. She was safe underneath those arms. This she was sure of.

Brian lips graced Maren as he whispered, “Mmm how’d I get so lucky?!,” he playfully bit at her nose as he rested his head on his elbow and lightly graced his hand across her stomach causing her to buck at the sensation of the goosebumps forming. 

Maren let out a tiny moan before she quickly sat up rolling his body underneath hers as she now sat on top of him, “Don’t get all romantic on me right now Quinn.. I need you to fuck me. Hard and rough,” Maren emphasized those last two words as she gently played with her nipples. 

Brian snickered and shook his head a little. He never could have imagined sex like this with her. Then again he never let himself, and now look. Happy to play along, Brian smiled that devilish grin that drove Mar insane and growled, “Yes, tell Daddy how you want it baby...”

Marens breath caught in her throat at the sound of him saying ‘Daddy’. It was incredibly sexy coming out of Brian’s mouth. She began to lose control. The heat in her body rose quickly as her core throbbed, begging for him to be inside of her. Her plan to dominate him began to crumble, she was merely the student and he was still the teacher. 

Brian sat himself up, coming eye to eye with her and brought his palm to the back of her neck under her hair, leaning in close to her lips he smiled, “What’s the matter babe...” he teased as he kissed her lips. Maren moaned seductively, “I’m sorry, am I ruining your game here,” he growled as he kissed her nose.

Maren laughed nervously realizing she failed horribly at her little seduction move and came clean, “You’re good.. you threw me off my game... daddy.” Maren peered at him, eyes wide as she bit down and sucked her bottom lip.

Brian needed her now. The way she said “daddy” was more than he could handle. Wrapping his arm around her waist he pulled her naked body close to his as she gasped and slid her underneath him. Grabbing her knee, he brought it to her chest and stole a glance at her as she waited with her eyes closed in anticipation for him. “Hard and Rough huh....”

Maren let out a gasp as he thrust inside her deeply in one swift motion, “God, baby.. so deep baby,” she weeped in delight as he began thrusting into her slow but hard and deep.

Brian closed his eyes and breathed deeply as he rocked his hips back and forth. Marens hands ran through his chest which he quickly grabbed and pinned behind her head. 

Maren let out a sharp breathe as he began to pick up his pace, going deeper and hitting her right where she likes it, “Baby, right there.. oh yes babe.. fuck Brian..” she whined in this cute little voice.

Brian placed his hands on each side of her face and leaned his forehead into her, “Maren.. Fuck!” he moaned between breathes as he continued to thrust into her fast.

“Brian I’m going to cum, please don’t stop,” Maren whispered between breathes as she gently ran her hands along his arms. Brian could feel her walls tighten around him and knew she was close. Her fingers squeezed his arm as he smiled to himself at how amazing she was. Glancing down, he studied her face, wanting to remember every single detail of what it looked like when he made her cum. “Come for me Maren..” he quietly demanded with no pretense other than love.

His eyes burned for her right now like she hadn’t seen before. It didnt take long before she melted around him, gripping his arms to steady her shaking body. “Brian... Oh ba.. baby“ she squealed out in delight as he continued to rock his hips, thrusting in and out of her sweetness. 

As much as he wanted to keep going, he could never control himself after seeing her cum. He was next.  
“Maren, baby you’re so wet,” Brian was out of breathe but didn’t want it to end. Maren gently wiped his forehead and looked into his eyes, knowing exactly how to get him over the edge, “Mmm Daddy” she moaned as she stuck his thumb in her mouth and sucked on it.

Gripping his free hand in a fist, Brian tensed up quickly as he came hard. “Damn babe.. Fuck.” he collapsed next to her body, pulling her close as he fought hard to catch his breathe. 

Maren snuggled in close to his sweat covered body. Leaning up she kissed his lips and purred, “Let me know when you’re ready to go again!”   
____________________________________________

“Top of the morning sir, how can I help you?” the green eyed bubbly reception cheerfully greeted when he walked up to the front desk. 

“Good morning! I’m looking for the room number of a guest that is staying here, David Easterly,” Joe said to the receptionist. He hadn’t heard back from Kelsi yet and something wasn’t sitting right with him. He wanted to get to the bottom of it.

“Hmm sir, I don’t see anyone under that name! Could it be under a different name?” She asked typing away on her keyboard.

“Try TruTv,” he said figuring maybe it was under the company name. However after seeing the look on the receptionists face, everything began to make sense.

“Sorry sir, nothing under TruTv either,” she said shaking her head. She looked up to Joe who couldn’t believe what was happening. “Should I try another name?” She said in the hopes she was being helpful.

Joe shook his head no and patted the counter with his hand, “No dear, thank you you’ve been very helpful,” he said as he began to walk away quickly. “Thanks again!” he said nervously as he dialed his cell phone.

Kelsi picked up on the second ring, “Joe I was just gonna call you!” 

“He’s not with Tru, Kelsi, he’s not staying here. He had to be with the press. What the hell is going on Kelsi?!” Joe was frustrated.

Kelsi sighed, “I know, we just found out. We’re contacting the local authorities there now and filing a report. Was any information given to this guy? Did he ask for anything specific? Did you get a business card?” Kelsi was in PR mode.

Joe shook his head, “No Kels, we just got off a red eye from London, we were all exhausted and wasn’t expecting to get pulled aside by someone claiming to be from corporate. We never had reason stop to think it wasn’t real! This is fucked up. How am I even gonna tell Maren or Brian about this?”

Kelsi understood what he was saying, “Do you want me to tell them? Let Tru handle this guy, you guys just worry about your tour. I’ll talk to Maren.” 

Joe took a deep breathe, “I’ll tell them, I talked to them both this am. I’ll tell them. None of this is okay Kelsi. Please handle it.” He said hanging up, heading toward the elevator to Brian’s room.


	20. Unbelievable

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Co written with Hopedanglesonastring

Everyone was still trying to catch up on sleep from their late flight, which was why they were all incredibly grateful the meet and greet was after the show instead of before. Maren planned it that way when she saw what time they would be landing in Dublin and knew the guys would want as much time to themselves before the show. That's what made her such a good tour manager, she knew their ticks and preferences so well. 

However when she planned this tour so quickly she didn't anticipate spending the entire morning snuggled up in bed with one of them. The two spent all morning making out, pleasing one another with their mouths, and taking turns making the other cum. They took breaks dozing off for little cat naps all through out the morning. 

Brian was stirring awake yet again and smiled sleepily as he felt hands on him. Maren had just woken up herself and the first thing on her mind was to repay this man for the fabulous orgasm she received before they fell asleep. She took him deep and fast in her mouth, making sure to get it nice and wet. She knew exactly what he liked when it came to a blowjob and made sure to bite the tip gently. When she heard him inhale deeply she smiled to herself, she was getting the job done just right. 

Brian hands quickly tangled in her already messy hair and he tugged pulling at the base of her neck roughly. "God my girl sucks cock so good." She heard him mutter followed by some untranslated moans. Maren gave her throat a little break and circled her tongue around the tip tasting the saltiness that was already oozing out. "Fucking hell Maren" he managed to say as his dick began to twitch. He couldn't help but wonder how it was possible he had any cum left; he'd lost track at this point over the past 12 hours. 

With one final tug at the base of his balls, Brian clenched his fist as he released this time drops of it dripping onto Maren's cheek. It wasn't until he opened his eyes that he saw her reaching over for a couple tissues from the night stand. She giggled as she watched him shake his head in disbelief. "I don't think I ever wanna leave this fucking room." He said when he finally spoke. 

"As much as I agree..." she started to say as she glanced at the clock realizing it was now 12:30 in the afternoon, "We really need to start moving." 

"You're probably right, I'm starving." He responding noticing his stomach starting to growl at the thought of food. 

"And here I thought I was enough to eat." She pouted. 

Brian's eyes shifted and his infamous devilish smile returned as he quickly pushed her back down against the mattress, "Well I guess one more helping won't kill me." He growled pulling her legs apart to make room for himself. Giggling uncontrollably, Maren jumped as she felt the wetness of his mouth connect to her. However a knock at the door shifted them back to reality and pulled them apart. 

On the other side of the door, Joe kept hearing Maren laughing and the sounds of the two quickly shuffling around. "Have you seen my pants?" He suddenly heard Q's voice say.

"I think I threw them in that direction." Maren answered. 

"Here's your panties...may have to add them to my collection." He heard Q's muffled voice say. 

"Shut up and give me those!" Maren laughed. 

As Joe waited in the hall he shook his head. These two were a couple of animals. He contemplated just coming back later when the door finally opened. "Oh you both are alive!" Joe smiled. He then looked down noticing that half of Maren's bra was exposed, "Umm.. Mulls you missed a couple buttons." He said turning beet red and looking away quickly. 

"Oh for Christ sakes!" She cried out turning around quickly to readjust. "You said I got them all!" She exclaimed playfully smacking her boyfriend's arm.

"I thought you had! I was too focused on my zipper." Brian laughed blocking her hand. 

"Excuse me!" Joe interrupted, "While you both were attempting to dress each other..." he paused for a moment once he saw some claw marks going down his best friend's neck, "I am here with some news." 

Maren and Brian quickly stepped out of romance mode and into serious mode. Once Joe saw that he had their attention he began to explain. "Easterly is not who he says he is. He's not with Tru." 

"Who is he then?" Brian asked. 

"Guessing some idiot tabloid who assumed we would take his word for it and not check him out." Joe responded. When he saw the worried look on Maren's face he immediately switched to her friend and not her boss. "It's gonna be fine. Kelsey is handling it back home. He's just some asshole hoping to get a few pictures, I'm sure." 

For a split second Maren wondered if Jason has anything to do with this but brushed it off. He couldn't have that kind of reach all the way in Ireland. 

"Just wanted to let you both know and also on a brighter note, we are all meeting for lunch at 2. So unfortunately you both are gonna have to pry away from the sheets for a few hours." He laughed seeing how red Maren was getting with embarrassment. 

As Joe headed down the hallway he needed to throw one last dig their way so he turned quickly before they shut the door, "Try to keep it down guys, out of respect to the people on the other side of these walls!" He winked then let out a massive laugh when Q gave him the finger. 

"You okay?" Brian asked once they were back inside the room with the door closed.

"Yeah." She shrugged still trying to piece together what Joe had said. 

"Hey." Brian said lifted her chin up. He knew how she got when her anxiety got the better of her. "I'm serious, are you okay?"

"I'm fine honey. Honestly." She said giving him a kiss. "Just a little bizarre someone would go to these lengths for a dumb story." 

"Honey?" Brian said with a goofy smile. 

Maren bit her lip a little when she saw the cute expression he was displaying, "Yeah...honey." She kissed him again then glanced towards the bathroom. "We should really shower if we're gonna make lunch. You joining?" She asked giving him her best puppy dog eyes hoping he'd say yes. 

"If I do, we're definitely not making lunch." He laughed. "Plus I need some clean clothes. I'll meet you down there?" 

"Ok." She responded as she rummaged through her bags to find something to wear. 

Brian snuck up behind her wrapping his arms tightly around her waist. "I love you." He whispered causing goosebumps all over her body. She couldn't help but think how sexy he was as he left her room heading to his.  
________________________________  
As Brian showered he came up with a brilliant idea that was sure to clean up any negative things about his girl. Once he was dried off and dressed he decided to run his idea by someone who he was sure would have his back. 

He texted Maren quickly telling her he missed her already, rolling his eyes at how corny he probably sounded but he didn't care. He was a man madly in love who was given a second chance. She responded right away with a kissy face emoji. Afterwards he searched for the number he needed hoping he picked up. 

"Simmy!" Brian said once his friend/executive producer answered. 

"What's up man?! How goes the tour?" Simmy greeted. 

"It's going." Brian responded. 

"Listen I know why you're calling and I already talked to Kelsey. Let us handle this guy. You know we would never do anything like that." Simmy insisted. 

"I know buddy but that's not really why I'm calling." Brian replied. 

"No?" Simmy answered a little confused, "Ok, so what's up then?" It wasn't often that Q called just to chat. 

"I was thinking once we get back to filming we get Maren in a bit. I'll talk to the other guys about specifics but just wanted to let you know first." Brian started to say. 

"Umm...why exactly?" Simmy questioned. 

"Well she's still pretty nervous about what people think about her so I figured getting her involved in an episode could get viewers to fall in love with her. Maybe even after party, we have plenty of guests on there. She could tell funny stories from tours. I think it would be great." Brian went on with his idea. Wheels spinning as he kept talking. 

"Ah..yeah Q I'm not sure that's a great idea." Simmy interrupted before Q got too far down the rabbit hole. 

"Why not?" Brian asked now a bit annoyed his idea was being down right turned down. 

Simmy let out a massive sigh. Sitting in his office in New York he prayed this didn't lead to one of their intense arguments. "Q, buddy, listen...I love Maren. We all do..." 

"Ok??" Brian interrupted. 

"It's just that Tru is a PG-13 network. I know the higher ups aren't gonna want to have someone like Maren on the show. I'm sorry." Simmy said. 

"Someone like Maren? What the fuck is that supposed to mean? How is she exactly?! Hard working? Driven?...." 

"Someone with sex photos...pretty graphic ones at that." Simmy said sternly. 

"Are you fucking kidding me?!" Brian responded. 

"No Q I'm not. Maren left a big mess when she bailed on you guys. She's not even your manager after this tour so what is the big deal? Wait is she?" 

Brian was silent on the other end after Simmy's question. They hadn't talked about it yet but he assumed she would be returning to New York and her old job. "The Tenderloins are not owned by the network, who we staff is none of you or anyone else's damn business!" He snapped. "And furthermore if they feel so strongly about this, why the fuck am I still employed?! Video of myself was leaked as well." He added referencing the elevator footage of the two of them.

"Trust me, the higher ups weren't thrilled with that but..." he started to say before being interrupted again. 

"But I make the network millions so they can overlook it...right?!" Brian barked. 

"Q, it's nothing personal towards Maren. It's just in order to put this all behind us, it would be best if we didn't push her too much onto viewers is all I'm trying to say." Simmy said trying to calm the man on the other end. He knew how bad Q's temper could be. 

"Whatever Simmy." Brian said completely and totally done with this conversation. This great morning ruined. "Just know Maren isn't going anywhere!" He exclaimed ending the call abruptly and tossing the phone on the bed. He paced back and forth a little bit until he decided to make one more call. This one required a little research before so he sat down typing into Google ignoring a text from Simmy apologizing that he wasn't getting the outcome he had hoped for but wished him luck on the rest of the tour.   
________________________________  
After his second phone call Brian took some time to calm down, he sat on his hotel bed rolling his shoulders back to relieve the tension. Something that Maren had said to him when they were down the Keys suddenly popped in his mind. "Let's just stay here forever. Change our names and own a bunch of chickens." 

He smiled at the idea wondering how much less stress they would both have if they had just said fuck it and did just that.  
_______________________________  
"There you are!" Maren smiled standing with the three other Jokers in the lobby. Brian approached very happy to see his girl and friends. He grabbed the hand Maren had stuck out linking their fingers together and gave her a gentle kiss on the side of her head right above her ear. His breath tickled her a bit and she smiled into him. 

"You look beautiful." He whispered. Maren decided on a beautiful sea green sundress for lunch. It complemented her curves perfectly. 

"Wow." Murray said looking at the display of affection. 

"What?" Maren asked leaning into her man. 

"You guys just...fit." He smiled. 

Brian appreciated the compliment and smiled in gratitude. "We heading to lunch? I'm starving." 

"Bet you both are!" Sal laughed loving that he was gonna get to torture this two now. 

"Don't be jealous because I got something else besides my hand to use!" Brian countered not even having to look at his girl to know she was blushing.   
_______________________________  
The five-some taxied over to Mr. Fox, a classic local Irish place. Joe had received a call from Simmy earlier about Brian asking about putting Maren on the show and he knew he had to talk to him about it. Joe was perfectly fine with it and he knew Murr and Sal would feel the same but the last thing he wanted to do was piss off the network anymore than they might already be. He didn't wanted wanna spoil the great mood either so decided it would be best to bring it up later. 

Maren and Brian made sure to not be too all over each other during lunch. They sat next to each other and besides rested her head on his shoulder, they kept their PDA to a minimum. Maren was quickly reminded how insane a meal with the four of them could be. She contently ate her food while the Jokers told joke after joke making fun of each other. 

As everyone chatted Maren felt her phone buzz and glanced down reading a text from an unknown number.   
Hello Ms. Mulligan, my name is Trevor Williams and I am a real estate agent located in Southern Florida. I recent your information from Mr. Quinn regarding wanting to put your property up for sale. I know you are away for work so please reach out when you have time to discuss. 

Maren was floored. Brian actually reached out to a real estate agent without her permission. "What's wrong?" Brian asked noticing her looking at her phone in confusion. 

"Nothing." She answered not wanting to make a scene in front of everyone. 

"No it's not nothing, what's wrong?" Brian pushed. "Its not the guy that sent the flowers is it?" 

"Huh? No? Why would you even say that?" Maren asked annoyed that he would bring that up. 

"Well than what's the problem?" Brian continued not caring that they weren't the only ones at the table. 

"Alright fine.." Maren said knowing he wasn't gonna let this go, "Why would you give my number to a real estate agent?" 

Brian looked mildly confused on why Maren seemed upset. "Figured I would help, you do plan on moving back to New York don't you?" 

"Haven't really thought that far ahead yet." She admitted. Truth was she had thought about it but didn't wanna make any major decisions until this tour was over and things with Brian were more than a few days old. 

"Well how the hell do you expect us to work if you're living in Florida?!" Brian said starting to get a little louder. The other three men looked around nervously. He hasn't gotten anyone else's attention just yet but if he kept up he was gonna. 

"I haven't thought about it yet. But Brian you cant just make a big decision like that about my life without consulting me." Maren argued back. "I mean we've only been back together for a matter of days, I can't make a huge move like that so fast." 

"Why?" Brian barked, "You certainly were fast when it came to moving down there in the first place." He said rolling his eyes tossing his napkin on his plate in frustration. 

"Ok ya know what..." She jumped in holding her hand up, "Before one of us says something we can't take back again, I'm gonna go." She said standing up. Maren took some cash from her purse and placed it on the table. "I'll be at the hotel waiting for you guys, 5:30. Okay?" She said directing it to the other guys. 

"When your boyfriend tries to help you should let him." Brian said as she pushed her chair away from the table to get up. 

"And when your girlfriend needs time to figure out her next step, you should let her." Maren responded then turned to exit the dining room.


	21. How I’m Such A Fool

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Co written with Hopedanglesonastring

The rest of the table was silent and all looking down at their plates and eating when Brian turned back towards them after Maren disappeared.

He looked at around at his friends, waiting for one of them to agree with him. But he didn’t get that. Instead, he found that his friends were on his girlfriends side.

“Bad move dude,” Joe said shaking his head as he shoved a fork full of pancake into his mouth. Sal and Murr mumbled along in agreement with the unofficial leader of the group.

Brians eyebrows hit the ceiling. “You’ve got to be kidding! You heard her! She hasn’t thought about it?! That means she hasn’t thought about us after this tour. How is that supposed to make me feel??!” Brian complained as he crossed his arms across his chest.

Sal spoke up, “And this is where you always go wrong bud. Not just about you anymore!” 

Murr was in the middle of cutting his omelet, but shook his knife towards Sal in agreement. “He’s right Q..”

“I’ll take relationship advice from Joe before I take it from you two,” Brian shook his head looking in Murr and Sal’s direction before continuing, “ And I was trying to help! I thought she would WANT to move back to New York!” 

Joe chuckled before looking at Brian, “So you thought you’d just call a real estate agent and arrange all that for her? You didn’t schedule the movers yet did you?” Joe deadpanned as he continued eating his breakfast.

Brian placed his elbows on the table and groaned into his hands. “Ugh. I messed up. “

A chorus of “Yup” and “Sure did” sounded from his three best friends. 

“I just want to be with her, man. I don’t want this being so hard and complicated. I thought I was taking some of the pressure off of her.” Brian sighed as he leaned back in his chair. 

“Here’s an idea. Why don’t you two forget the past, and enjoy the moment. I get that you both are stubborn as hell, but stop second guessing what the other is thinking all the time. Communicate. Use your big boy words Bri.” Joe suggested hoping to lighten the mood. “Get through this tour. We’ll have some time off after that. You’ll both figure it out. But do it together, ok?” 

Brian stood up from the table and leaned across it, playfully kissing Joe on his forehead. “Thank you Joseph.”

Sal smirked, “Enjoy your make-up sex. Don’t be late for the show. Don’t hurt yourself.” He contined calling out as Brian walked away. 

Brian rolled his eyes and smiled as he walked away feeling extremely grateful for his three best friends.  
___________________________________________

“Millie, I love him but he drives me absolutely insane. Listen to this..” 

Once back in her hotel room, Maren changed into yoga pants and a hoody before she dialed up a familiar voice. Ever since her move back to Florida, Maren spent more time with Millie. Whether it was weekend trips together or just evening chats on the phone Maren was extremely blessed and thankful that she had Millie in her life especially now that she lived so close.

Millie was aware of the plan to help the guys through this last tour and that Maren was in Europe with them. It worried Millie. She didn’t think Maren was ready to go back to New York and her old life. However she knew Maren and she wasn’t one to let her friends or anyone for that matter, down. Millie would always support her decisions no matter what.

“He called a real estate agent about putting my house up for sale! He never even discussed it with me!” Maren said feeling the heat rise in her chest. Annoyed all over again at the nerve of him.

Millie smiled on the other end of the line, “Maren sweetie, it sounds like he was trying to help. Remember, he’s a man hun.”

Maren cracked a smile as she sat down on the couch. She sighed, “It’s scary Millie. I love him, there’s just so many obstacles in the way.”

Millie smiles warmly, “Honey, sometimes love really is all you need. Not to sound like The Beatles, but sometimes love is enough. It doesn’t have to be as complicated as either of you think. I know it’s hard to forget the past, but honey if he loves you like I know you love him, you have to stop assuming the worst of him.”

Maren closed her eyes and smiled, knowing Millie was right. It had been a hell of a day so far and they both overacted. She knew she had to talk to Brian when she was startled by a small knock on her door. 

“Thank you. I love you Millie. Someone’s at the door. I’ll call you soon.” They both said their goodbyes as Maren made her way toward the door.  
_____________________________________________

During the ten minute taxi ride back to the hotel Brian laughed to himself as the perfect small “Fuck You ” to Simmy and the network ran through his head. Grabbing his cell phone he started a new text.

BRIAN: “I just had an idea..”

JOE: “Shoot”

BRIAN: “Why don’t we bring Maren out on stage tonight at the end during the thank yous”

JOE: “Oh that’ll piss off the network.. let’s do it!”

_______________________________________

Standing in the doorway was two big brown puppy dog eyes belonging to Brian Quinn. Looking dejected, he leaned against the doorway, shoulders slumped, “I’m sorry honey” he said quietly.

Maren leaned against the opposite side of the doorway and stuck out her bottom lip, “I’m sorry too honey” she whispered also.

They both stood in the doorway smiling at each other shyly before Brian brought his palm to her face. She leaned into it warmly, one of her favorite feelings in the world. 

“I was trying to help and take some pressure off. I didn’t mean anything else by it.” Brian explained.

Maren nodded and leaned in to his chest, “I know, I overreacted. I’m sorry. Let’s just get through this tour, ok? I love you.” she softly said before gracing her lips on his and kissing him.

Brian moaned into the kiss, “Ya know, you left lunch before we got to dessert..” he said moving his hand down her body while the other still craddled her face.

“Is that so?” Maren giggled as Brian pulled her inside the room shutting the door behind him.  
___________________________________________  
18 months ago 

It was five stories above South Street Seaport. She kept glancing up to it and shaking her. The thought of all five of her bosses walking a tightrope on live television 3 weeks before a major tour launch made her nauseous. Pacing back and forth between the crowd and backstage, she kept to herself as she walked back and forth, outside looking up towards the tightrope and then backstage and around the the room. Startled by the arm reaching out to her shoulder, she looked up to see Brian standing in front of her.

“Hi,” she said surprised to see him. Backstage was abound with chaos. Crew and directors were running around screaming instructions while family members press were mingling nearby. She was taken aback that he had noticed her amongst all the hustle and bustle. 

Brian smiled that charming grin of his, “Jesus Mar, you look worse than Sal does and you’re not even walking it.” he said passing his water bottle towards her.

She grabbed it and gulped down a mouthful l, wiping her lips she replied nervously, “I don’t get why you guys are doing this.”

His brown eyes found her green ones as he said, “What are you afraid of?”

“Losing you” she thought to herself, before realizing a few moments passed and she was standing there staring at him. “I..”

“Brian lets go..” the stage director called out. Brian smiled at her before turning and walking away.

“Wait..” Maren called after him, walking up to him, she wrapped her arms around him and squeezed. She didn’t think twice, but became nervous as she realized he wasn’t reciprocating. 

Until he did. Tightly.  
_____________________________________________

“Dublin, we love you! Thank you for coming out tonight!” Murray’s voice boomed throughout the arena as the crown cheered loudly. Confetti fell to the floor as Maren clapped from the side of the stage.

“As always thank you to all members of the armed forces and law enforcement. Thank you to our amazing crew and friends and family.” Joe spoke into the mic as he glanced over towards Brian, who nodded his approval. “We also want to bring out our amazing tour manager Maren! Without her none of this is possible.. so let’s give her a round of applause”

Offstage Maren jaw hit the floor as she inched closer to the side stage curtain. Quickly her eyes darting to Brian who nodded and waved his hand for her to come out, before she looked up and saw Joe standing in front of her, “Joe what the hell?!” Maren whispered loudly while swatting at his arm.

Joe lowered the mic to his side and leaned in close as he lead her on to the stage, “Trust me.” He said.

Maren looked up at the enormous crowd in front of her and waved casually as Brian made his way up to her. Putting his arm around her pulled her in close and kissed her on the cheek , “Hi honey!” he winked


	22. I’m Such A Fool For Her

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Co written with Hopedanglesonastring

"We're in the homeland boys!!" Joe exclaimed as they stepped out of Ciampino Airport in the city of Rome, Italy. 

Italy was not a county they visited often but when they did it was probably one of their favorite places to be. The culture, the history, the food...it was something you dreamed of when you grew up on Staten Island. 

"We're actually pretty ahead of schedule today guys." Maren notes looking at her watch. "Let's check into the hotel and do a little site-seeing!" She was just as excited as the guys. 

Brian's phone buzzed with a text and he laughed quietly when he read it. Quickly he poked Joe turning his phone to show him. 

Simmy: Got your message loud and clear, she's not going anywhere. We get it. 

Joe laughed along with this friend. It wasn't often they used their weight to get their point across with the Network, overall they were pretty easy going guys to work with but little victories like this were nice sometimes. The network was going to drop their issues with Maren as their tour manager. 

Maren navigated her way up to the front desk of the Britannia Hotel. "Reservation under Mulligan, should be 5 rooms." 

Sal snorted behind her. "What?" She asked turning around with a questioning look. 

"Still keeping up the act of getting your own room? It would save us some money in the budget if you just got four rooms. You know we know you ain't sleeping in yours." Sal teased. 

A light blush came across Maren's cheeks as she turned back to the hotel desk attendant. "I'm sorry, we'll only be needing four rooms. Two keys to one of the rooms please." 

"Of course Ma'am." The desk clerk smiled sensing what was being insinuated. Maren made a mental note to call the rest of the hotels and cancel her rooms. Brian was smiling at how red Maren was at the moment and decided to lean in to kiss her cheek lightly to hopefully lighten the blow a bit. 

"Love you." He whispered softly so she could only hear. 

"I love you." She responded nuzzling into his neck as they waited for their rooms to be processed. The three other jokers looked on as Maren slowly dropped her head onto his chest and stuck her hand in the back pocket of his jeans.   
________________________________  
After settling quickly in their rooms, the group decided to stick together and do a little sightseeing. They had just finished lunch and were now enjoying gelato as they took in the wonder of Rome. "God this is the best thing I've ever ate!" Maren said out loud savoring the sweet strawberry taste. 

"Man are you slacking Q!" Joe exploded with laughter. As all the guys, Q included, laughed Maren shook her head in disbelief with a smirk. "I'm gonna have to watch what I say from now on aren't I?"

"I think that would be wise." Brian responded pulling her in close. 

"May not be the best thing Maren's had in her mouth but Q certainly hasn't stopped smiling the past few days!" Sal laughed. 

"Don't be all mad just because I'm the only one getting some right now and you're all stuck with this." He responded making a very clear gesture with his hand. 

"Cut it out!" Maren ordered pushing his hand down in fear someone would see what he was doing. She was pretty confident that movement was understood in any language. 

They continued walking until Maren's eyes lit up with delight. "Look!" She cried out. "It's even more beautiful in person." She said marveling up at the Trevi Fountain. 

"Says you're supposed to throw a coin in using your right hand over your left shoulder when you make a wish." Murray said reading the sign. 

Brian reached in his front pocket pulling out some change. Maren quickly grabbed a coin smiling. A few fans stopped and were taking pictures as they all turned around each tossing a coin in as they made their wishes. 

What everyone wish for?" Murr asked excitedly. 

"Can't tell bonehead." Sal rolled his eyes. This was around the time in the tour where he really started getting under Sal's skin. One too many days together wasn't always the best when it came to these two. 

Maren was right back against Brian's side like a magnet. "Something tells me, mine already came true." She said softly kissing his lips. 

"Mine too baby." He kissed back but secretly he hoped this fountain worked its magic and his girl would be staying put when they got back to New York.   
________________________________  
Night one of the Rome tour was an ultimate success. They did their job and made it up to the people of Italy and had a blast in the process. They celebrated hard that night, not a common occurrence for them but it had been constant traveling and work this far so after the show they checked out what downtown Rome had to offer. 

Murray and Maren were the most drunk of the group. Joe and Sal focused on making sure Murray didn't stumble into traffic while Maren hoisted herself up on Brian's back for a piggyback ride through the streets of Rome. Brian was trying very hard to focus on what he was doing but with a drunk Maren on his back nibbling at his ear and whispering very dirty things, it wasn't as easy as he'd hoped. 

"Stand up, you fucking lightweight." Sal groaned holding Murray under the armpit. 

"We about ready to head back?" Joe finally called out. It was only 7 at night in New York, he still had plenty of time to call Bessy and the kids if they turned in now. 

Everyone was in agreement until they passed a club blaring ridiculously loud techno music. "Awe man!" Murray cried out, "I love this song!" He then wiggled out of his friends' grasp making his way into the bar. 

"Me too!!" Maren agreed just as loudly. 

Brian cocked his head looking up at her, "You do not." Brian argued. 

"Yes I do! It's my favorite!" She slurred pushing off of his shoulders and hopping down following Murray inside.

"What just happened?" Joe asked turning around watching Murray and Maren run into the entrance to the club. 

"Mulls and Murr apparently are big techno fans now." Sal said shaking his head. 

"I know you wanna call home." Brian said, "Sally and I got this. Go buddy." 

Since Joe didn't drink he always liked to stick around and make sure everyone got back safely but he had a feeling it was gonna take a while getting these two back. "You sure you got this?" He asked them. 

"If he gives me too much trouble, I'll just throw Murray in the river." Sal said. He had worked hard tending to Murray so his buzz was long gone at this point. 

"Go!" Brian insisted, "Call your wife. See you in the morning." 

Once Sal and Brian caught up with Maren and Murray in the bar they were up on one of the balconies taking shots. "Hi honey!" Maren called out when she spotted him. 

"Hi honey." Brian smiled handing his girl a bottle of water. "Come on drink up." He pushed. 

Maren took the water welcoming, not realizing how thirsty she was. The foursome stayed up on the second floor for a bit drinking and laughing. The club was loud with flashy lights, a very European vibe. The music was so loud you could feel it in your throat.

"I'm gonna hit the bathroom real quick, you good?" He shouted loudly in Maren's ear over the music. 

She nodded, "Ok, I'm gonna get one more drink from the bar." She pointed to let him know where she would be. "You want one?" 

"I'm good!" He yelled over the music again. Once he saw how drunk Maren was getting he decided he had enough to drink and switched to water for the rest of the night. One of them had to be somewhat coherent. 

She shuffled her way through the crowd of people. Her head was spinning from the alcohol. "Absolute Citron on the rocks please." She called out  to the bartender. 

As she waited for her drink she swayed her body along to the music. Nights like this, so carefree, had become such a rarity. She was having so much fun. Suddenly she felt two strong arms around her waist and smiled leaning back into her man. She was surprised how much he was dancing into her, dancing was not Brian's thing at all. Maren honestly could count on one hand and still have fingers left over on the times she saw him dance. And seriously he should really do it more, the way he was grinding his hips into her was really starting to turn her on. "Geez baby." She giggled feeling his cock start to rub against her ass. As she leaned her head back against his chest, she reached up to stroke his cheek and that's when she realized something was wrong. Unless he had gone to the bathroom to completely shave off his beard, this guy was definitely not her man. "What the hell?!" She quickly turned around furious. 

"Hey pal!" She heard the real Brian call out slapping his hand against the guy's shoulder. "Take a walk!" 

One look into the angry American's eyes and the man knew he made a horrible mistake and quickly disappeared into the crowd. Brian looked down at Maren and immediately pulled her into his embrace. "Let's get going drunky before you got the whole place trying to grope you." He said, his anger quickly settling as that asshole got further away.   
_______________________________  
The room was scattered with different trays from room service. Neither could decide what they wanted so they ordered pretty much one of everything; pizza, penne al vodka, chicken wings, fried mozzarella, and fresh fries, couple slices of cake. "God my stomach is gonna hate me tomorrow." Maren whined laughing lazily. 

Meanwhile Brian was flipping through channels trying to find something to watch. The thing he always enjoyed about Europe was how casual they were about sex. As he keep scrolling through channel after channel numerous porn scenes were flashed across the screen. As Maren stared blankly at the TV, an idea suddenly came to mind. "You know what might be fun?" She giggled, the alcohol still impairing her thoughts. 

"Hmm?" Brian asked his eyes starting to grow pretty heavy. 

"You ever watch the video of us in the elevator?" She smiled shyly. 

The tiredness he was feeling 30 seconds ago suddenly vanished as his eyes shot back opened. "Honestly no I never did. You?" 

"I almost did one night in Florida. I was drunk, horny, and missing you a lot." She responded. "But I never ended up doing it." 

"You wanna?" He asked smiling.

"Could be fun." She answered shifting side to side. It was weird something that she though at one point was going to ruin her life was now turning her on thinking about. 

"I'm sure it isn't hard to find." Brian said as he reached over on the nightstand grabbing Maren's laptop. His heart melted as he noticed her background photo. It was a picture from their Florida trip, her sitting on his lap smiling with the sunset behind them. He remembered her going crazy over the beauty of the sky that night and wanting to get a picture with it, he stopped the bartender asking if she minded taking one. He powered up Google, "Let's try...Q elevator sex tape" he said out loud as he typed. One thing he never did was google himself so it was a very foreign thing he was doing. "Bingo!" He announced when he found a link for it. 

"Celebritysextapes.com?!" Maren laughed seeing the website that popped up. 

"I've officially made it!" He chuckled. "Ready?" He asked with a smile plastered on his face. "Here we go." He said as the video began loading.


	23. Beautiful, Crazy, She Can’t Help But Amaze Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Co written with Hopedanglesonastring

Maren bit her lip nervously as she shifted between Brian's legs trying to get comfortable. Laying her head back against his chest, she realized her buzz was wearing off. She wasn't feeling as brave as she was 10 minutes ago when she suggested this.

Brian was picking up on this as well and glanced down as he rubbed his hands gently up and down her arms.

"We don't have to watch it Mar," he said reassuringly. The last thing he wanted this to do was trigger her to have an anxiety or panic attack. 

Maren blushed nervously and looked up at him, his brown eyes just as beautiful upside down as right side up, "It's just...." her voice trailed as her eyes darted back to the laptop where she pressed the spacebar pausing the movie. "I've never watched myself before... I mean..."

Brian scoffed before letting out a small laugh as he interrupted her, "Oh, cause I have!?" he playfully shook her slightly as he continued to laugh before gently nibbling her ear. "It's just us babe, in that elevator. Just us. " Wrapping his arms around her tightly, he kissed the top of her head as he felt her body relax against his. Smiling to himself, he was thankful he was able to calm her down. Also, truth be told, he was excited to watch the video. 

Maren leaned up kissing his cheek before turning back around and pressing the spacebar to resume the video. Brian was right this was something neither of them had done before. And it was just them. Smiling to herself, she was thankful that he was somehow always the voice of reason when she became nervous. He always managed to get her to relax. 

"Look at that stud," Brian playfully nudged Marens shoulder when they both saw the black and white video start with Brian entering the elevator. Maren chuckled and rolled her eyes playfully as she sat up to press the volume button on the laptop. She turned the volume all the way up before turning back towards Brian with her eyebrows raised in confusion. He just shook his head, "No audio. Just video." He raised an eyebrow and that devilish grin spread across his lips again," Which means I'll provide the play by play" he breathed seductively against her neck as he placed tiny kisses along it.

"Mmmm" Maren moaned between sallow breathes. Brian's lips against her skin was overwhelming to her senses. “Welll then Mr. Quinn, tell me what's happening here?" She motioned with her head towards screen.

Brian lifted his eyes towards where Maren was looking. Leaning in closely to her his words caused goosebumps against her skin when he spoke, "Well here, we're both sitting on the floor, trying to fight the fact that we want our hands on each other very..very badly," Brian's hands had found their way under the t-shirt she was wearing, his blue Richmond Ave FDNY shirt which was his favorite and were now gently unhooking her bra sliding the straps down her arms.

Marens eyes closed as she inhaled sharply at the touch of this mans hands on her body. They were each other's perfect drug. Every part of her body was tingling. This man man her high. A high she chased her whole life. As his hands found their way over her breasts, it became clear that she couldn't be in Florida if he was in New York. Why would she want to be?

"And this part..this part is where I finally got to see the Maren I've imagined for the last 2 years.." He teased as they both set eyes on the screen again. In the video Maren was backed up against the wall of the elevator, holding her dress up. Brian was on his knees in front of her.

Maren moaned quietly as she placed one of her hands on top of Brian's and gently lead it down the sweatpants she was wearing. Once he felt how wet she was, he wasted no time slipping two fingers inside her. "Mr. Quinn, I believe you’re distracting me from the video" she whined in between wiggling back and forth.

Using his free hand, Brian lifted her chin towards the screen and leaned his head down to her other ear, his two fingers on his other hand still moving in and out of her with vigor, "And this is when you finally gave in to me..”

Maren watched her face on the screen. She remembered how amazing it felt, but actually seeing herself experience such joy was different. Her eyes rolled backwards as her body shook from Brian giving her the first real orgasm she had ever had in her life. With his tongue. Between seeing her face, remembering how this moment felt, and Brian's fingers currently deep inside her, another orgasm wasn't far behind. "Bri.." she quietly begged.

"See how beautiful you are? When you let go.. when you aren't scared...or afraid... or nervous... " he purred in between kissing her neck passionately. "See what I get to see..see how lucky I am?" Brian slowly began to flick at her clit with his thumb, knowing she was close. "I can't be without you Mar.."

Maren couldn't contain herself anymore. The way Brian needed her was too much. With a quick movement she hit the spacebar once again pausing the video moving the laptop to the side. She needed him inside her now. Grabbing his hand from her sweatpants, she turned around straddling his legs. Her eyes pierced the lust he had in his as she took one finger at a time in her mouth and sucked her sweetness off each one of them. Leaning forward, she kissed his lips before whispering, “I'll come back to New York," then quickly slid down his pants exposing his rock hard package. As quickly as the words left her mouth her lips wrapped around his hardness. Her tongue licked it up and down. Brian let out a small moan which caused her to pick up speed. She wondered if he even heard what she had just said when he finally spoke up.

"Maren..." He moaned as he lifted her face and body up so he could look in her eyes. Pulling at the bottom of her t-shirt he lifted it over her head exposing her beautifully full breasts. Looking her up and down his hungry gaze fell back to her eyes as Maren shimmied her way out of her sweatpants, "What did you say?" He asked again as she leaned down kissing his neck and gliding her hands over his dick. "And we're missing the actual sex part of the sex tape" he teased.

Maren smiled devilishly as she slowly lowered her throbbing, wet core on his rock hard thick penis. They both moaned at the feeling of one another coming together. Maren began to move her hips up and down, deliberately slow at first. "Do I need to schedule a hearing appointment for you, boss?" She seductively asked with a wink. "We'll get back to the tape, I needed you inside of me now.”

Brian snickered as he watched her bounce up and down. "What am I gonna do with this mouth of yours?" He questioned as he placed his hands on her hip. Truth was hearing Maren say she would come back to New York was all he wanted. Relief set in and it occurred to him quickly that Maren was the one. He closed his eyes and ran his hands up and down her body, a goofy smile surely plastered on his face.

Maren continued to ride him faster, her hands moving up and down her breasts. Somehow watching herself on the screen made her feel incredibly sexy and confident. It wasn’t just the sex tape. It was him. His words. How he saw her. This was love. And it was incredibly amazing."I could think of a few things..." She purred back raising her eyebrows. 

Brian shook his head, "How'd I get so lucky?" He asked as he rolled her off of him. Positioning her body on all fours, Brian admired her perfectly shaped ass as he slid inside her from behind. Quickly grabbing her hair in his hands, he pounded in to her fast. “God Maren..” he managed to breathlessly choke out.

Maren screamed as she grasped on to the bed sheets tightly. "Fuck baby, I love you" she said as the sound of their bodies coming together filled the air. Biting her lip, she felt her heart race fast as the tingly cool sensation began to wash over her. Her walls contracted tightly around him as she felt everything inside her build up. 

Brian always knew when she was about to explode so he moved his hands around her waist, leaning over and placing kisses on her back and he continued fucking her from behind. 

Maren erupted as soon as she felt those strong hands on her waist and the tickle of his lips on her back. “Ahh.. babe..” she cried out loudly as her arms gave way underneath her. 

Brian smacked her ass hard before he grabbed on to her tightly as he came hard. “God Mar..” he growled as he collapsed on top of her body. 

Both laid there struggling to catch their breathe. A thin sheen of sweat covered their exhausted bodies. Brian rolled on to his back, sitting up against the headboard. He pulled up an exhausted Maren into his chest. Kissing her forehead gently, he rubbed her back with his one hand while the other relaxed behind his head. “You looked so beautiful that night,” he whispered sweetly.

Maren who’s head was buried into the nook of his arm and chest, felt her face turn red. “You make me beautiful Brian.”she cooed as she ran her hands across his chest.

Brian smiled down at her as she drifted off to sleep. Pulling the covers over them both, he smiled as he realized his wish came true. Maren was coming back to New York, where she belonged. With him.


	24. Her Crazy’s Beautiful To Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Co written with Hopedanglesonastring

In the middle of the night Brian woke up and looked around. Fast asleep and snuggled up close to him was the most gorgeous woman. He took a few minutes to just watch her sleep peacefully and as he did his mind began to wander. As he laid there lightly stroking her face he thought about how dumb he had been for years, she had been right under his nose this whole time. And even when he finally realized it, he almost lost her. It was right then and there he came to the realization that he never wanted to be without this woman. Maren moves a lot in her sleep and had now flipped around so her back was right up against his chest. Even in her sleep though she scooted back so she was as close as possible. Never in his life was Brian Quinn a big cuddle person while he slept. In the past he would do it to make the girl happy but once she would drift off he would move away giving himself his space. However since the first time him and Maren were in bed together, he just couldn't get enough of her. God did he love this woman. Moving his head closer to hers on the pillow he smiled when he saw her shiver a little from his breath on her neck. Very softly he placed his lips ever so close to her ear and whispered, "Marry me." 

With her back towards him he didn't see her eyes shoot open. Did he really just say that? Completely taken aback she decided to remain still and let him believe she was still sound asleep. However sleep was now the last thing on her mind.  
_______________________________  
The next morning Maren was up first and showering. She barely slept most of the night after hearing her very new boyfriend mumble a marriage proposal. Normally Maren would have run for the hills at the thought of an engagement. The last time she thought she found 'the one' ended up blowing up in her face. So the idea of thinking like that again only brought up painful abandoning memories of Jason walking out on her. 

That was the 'old Maren'. This Maren couldn't stop shaking this butterfly feeling currently going on. As she rinsed out her conditioner she kept smiling. Did Brian really want to marry her? And better question, why did she want to say yes? 

When she emerged from the bathroom her man was just opening his eyes. "Good morning." He said in a groggy deep voice that Maren always found so sexy. There was something about seeing someone right when they woke up that was so intimate...so private. 

"Good morning." She replied trying to hide her smile but failing miserably. 

"What?" He asked clearing his throat still trying to find his voice. 

"Nothing." She insisted but still couldn't control this feeling of nervous joy inside of her. 

"You're a terrible liar honey." Brian pushed. 

"Did you wake up at all last night?" She asked biting her lip, "And perhaps say something..." 

Brian's eyes widened for a second then a small smirk appeared on his lips. "Maybe." He answered. "Now let me ask you something...if you were awake why didn't you answer me?" 

"Guess I didn't know what to say or even if you were serious." She responded shyly twiddling her fingers, a nervous habit she had developed years ago. 

"Oh I was serious." He said immediately, "The question is, are you?" 

Maren looked up into her most favorite pair of eyes. Those deep chocolate eyes that saw her for who she was, not who she tried to be. "It's so fast." She whispered as she felt his arms come around her tightly. 

"I know." He responded in his own soft whisper, "But that doesn't make it wrong." 

"I guess it doesn't, does it?" She said standing on her bare tip toes to kiss his lips. 

"Q! Maren!" A loud voice came outside the door followed by a hard knock. Both of them jumped in surprise. 

"Oh what the fuck?" Brian grumbled recognizing Sal's voice as the one outside. Maren quickly slipped away to throw something on besides the towel she was wearing. "Yes?!" Brian's voice boomed when he opened the door seeing Sal standing in the hall. 

"Look sorry if I'm interrupting your animal sex..." he replied rolling his eyes at Q's attitude, "Hey Mar!" He smiled seeing her buttoning her shirt in the background. 

"Did you need something?" Brian snapped wanting Sal to get on with it. It wasn't sex Sal was interrupting, it was a potential yes to Maren agreeing to spend the rest of their lives together. 

"Yeah I need your help with Murray." Sal said. 

"What's wrong with Murray?" Brian asked. 

"He wanted to get breakfast this morning and ended up puking all over the hallway. It's fucking gross!" Sal exclaimed. 

"Seriously?! You came to my room because Murray's a fucking lightweight and has a little hangover?!" Brian groaned getting more annoyed by the minute. 

"Is he okay?" Maren asked concerned coming to the doorway now. 

"He's fine. He just drank too much and Sal's stomach can't handle it so now it's my problem." Brian said rolling his eyes. "Hand me my sweatshirt babe." He said turning to Maren as he slipped on his flip flops. 

"God are you pathetic." Brian called out to Murray as he followed Sal down the corridor. 

Sitting on the floor holding an ice bucket was James Murray looking awful. "I don't feel good guys." He whined. 

Brian knelt next to his friend doing his best to ignore the smell. "You okay buddy?" 

"This is all your fault." Murray said pointing to Maren. 

"Me?!" She laughed. 

"Yeah,  you're the one that insisted on shots!" He yelled then immediately put his head back into the bucket to puke again. 

Just hearing the sounds of it made Sal nauseous and he began looking like he was going to need a bucket of his own. "Sal!" Brian yelled, "Get outta here! I don't need two piles of puke." He then looked at his girl, "Babe go back to the room and call housekeeping. And you.." He said pulling Murray to his wobbly feet, "Back to bed for a couple hours."   
________________________________  
The next day they were landing in Paris, the City of Love. After dealing with Murray and the world's worst hangover, it was safe to say the mood was killed. However that didn't mean the conversation wasn't on either of their minds. Their last day in Rome was pretty busy and combine that with a red eye flight to France after their show, it went without saying they didn't have much time alone. 

As Maren checked everyone into the hotel and touched base with Dôme de Paris,where they would they would be performing that night, Brian had seemed to have disappeared. None of the guys knew where he took off to and Maren didn't wanna be super clingy so decided to let him have some space. Having worked with him for years, she knew he tended to need some time to decompress when they reached the half way mark of their tours.  
________________________________  
One of the things that Maren loved about traveling with the guys was getting to run the streets of different places. She put on her jogging clothes and took to the streets of Paris. When she got back to the room, Brian was still MIA. Maren was starting to grow a little concerned but instead of texting him decided on a shower, just in case he called though she brought her phone in the bathroom leaving it on the sink. 

Sure enough halfway through her shower, her phone rang. Slipping out with soap still all over her she answered quickly. "Hello?" 

"Oh so you are alive!" Brian laughed.

"I should be saying that to you, I'm not the one that just disappeared." She joked. 

"Figured you would have called me a couple hours ago." He said. 

"Didn't wanna bother you." She admitted. 

She smiled when she heard Brian chuckle on the other end, "You baby, are never a bother." He responded. "I'm going to text you an address. Meet me there in 30 minutes." He commanded. 

"Where am I going?" She asked. 

"Have to wait and see. Half hour. Love you." He said then quickly hung up.   
________________________________  
Her heart was beating so fast in her chest as the cab navigated to the destination she had given. Once the cab took a left she saw him immediately standing near the water. Quickly paying the cab driver, "Merci Monsieur!" She uttered before jumping out. 

"Hey beautiful, meeting someone?" Brian greeted smiling. 

"Maybe." She teased kissing his cheek softly. 

"Come on." He said reaching his hand out for her to take. They walked along the river for about a quarter of a mile silently. He seemed so calm to Maren, little did she know he was a nervous wreck inside at the moment. Right before they reached where he was leading them he began speaking again. He had been practicing what he was going to say all day. "Ya know.." he started then cleared his throat, "A long time ago I made a decision to lock up my heart. Just didn't seem worth getting hurt. And I was like that for years." 

"You've been through a lot. Can't say I blame you." Maren responded squeezing his hand lovingly. 

"Even when I had the perfect woman in front of me, I was too stubborn to put my guard down." He then looked at her and grinned, "I know I didn't make it easy on you."

"You were worth it." She smiled. 

Just then Brian stopped walking and pointed to a long iron bridge covered in countless padlocks. Maren had read about this bridge before. "Is this..." she began to asked eyes widened with excitement. 

"Pont de l'Archevêché" Brian said in his best attempt at a French accent. "Or the padlock bridge. Guess the story goes that if you put your lock on this bridge, your love is supposed to last forever." He said with a shrug hoping she didn't find this stupid. 

"Did you bring a lock?!" She asked jumping up and down. 

Happy that she was actually into this old wives tale he reached into his pocket offering her a silver padlock which he already wrote their initials on. She shrieked in delight, so excited over the idea. "Come on!" She shouted grabbing his hand and quickly jogging over to the bridge. 

It was a fairly long bridge and Maren walked along smiling into the sun as they strolled hand in hand. Maren noticed a small family of ducks paddling in the water beneath them and stopped to look down. It was then that Brian saw his chance and gently came behind her and rested his chin on her shoulder. Maren let out a content sigh and nuzzled into her man. It was then that she felt something on her neck and was surprised when she saw Brian carefully put a gold chain around her. She brought her hand up to feel what it was and realized it was a beautiful gold heart shaped locket. 

"We haven't finished our discussion." He said softly sending those goosebumps up and down her spine again. "I know I jumped the gun, I tend to do that." He laughed. "Maybe we're not entirely ready but I hope to be in the near future." 

"Me too." She smiled happy they were on the same page. 

"So until then..." he said as he opened the locket revealing the key to the padlock to her, "Keep the key to my heart safe." He said placing a small kiss to the key then put it back into the locket clipping it shut. 

Maren couldn't believe what was happening. The man that she knew to completely and totally hated anything mushy was coming out with stuff you only read in books. He quickly spun her around to face him and it was then he saw the tears pooling in her eyes. Reaching up he wiped them with his thumb. 

Maren looked down running her hands over a row of locks as Brian added theirs. It really was a beautiful sight, thousands of locks all symbolizing the power of love. “You really think all of these people are still together?” She asked as Brian stood back up from his kneeling position. 

He shrugged in a response. “Realistically? Probably not.” He answered. “Life’s hard babe and a lot of the times people crumble under pressure.” It was then that he decided to admit something. Grabbing her hand and pulling her close again, he brushed the hair from her face. “I’m not perfect. Am I gonna mess up? Yeah. Am I gonna be grouchy and say stupid hurtful shit? Probably.” He placed a kiss to her forehead, “But baby just like these locks, we are gonna be strong.” 

She looked out over the water for a moment seeing the sun setting off into the distance. Then looking back up at the man that was holding onto her tightly she smiled, "Thought we were supposed to throw the key into the water afterwards?" She asked slyly. 

"Since when do we ever play by the rules,huh?" He responded with a wink then kissed her roughly pushing her against the iron rods of the bridge letting the City of Love capture them before they had to reunite with the rest of the world and Maren would once again have to share him with thousands of others. However for these few minutes, he was all hers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well looks like part 2 of Maren and Brian's story has wrapped. Please stay tuned for their next installment. Thank you all so much for the comments and feedback along the way!! Don't go far, be back shortly!


	25. Chapter 25

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Update on New Stuff!!

Hey all!! In addition to adding to ongoing stories and the new Maren/Brian story. I’m collaborating with Hopedanglesonastring for a fun new project. Remember those books you read where it would have you choose an option then switch to that page to see what would happen. Well this is what we are going to try. A new story is published called “Crossing Paths” and it features a new character. You have 48 hours after it is posted to vote on what you would like to see happen. A way to get more involved. I hope you will check it out!! Thanks for all the continued love and support!


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